Rose's Ramblings
by Headlock
Summary: Rose is a fifth year with a talent for attracting embarrassing situations, something she would rather avoid. But with a family as large and loud as hers, that isn't always easy. And how long can she ignore the tension between herself and Scorpius?
1. In Which Rose Gets Sunburned

This morning, I was white as a porcelain doll. Now, I'm a red Gryffindor Weasley Lobster, with skin the color of my hair.

What was I THINKING?

Just because the sun shines for the first time in, oh, two weeks, I have to go outside and lie down for a few minutes? And then I had to fall asleep, making two minutes into three and a half hours. I missed the Chess Club meeting! I wasn't going to be late for anything this year, and now, in October, I actually missed something. Not "was late" but "wasn't in attendance." I could have kept on sleeping if James hadn't woken me by unceremoniously kicking my leg.

"It's time for Quidditch practice," he growled.

Appointing James the Gryffindor Captain was the biggest mistake ever. If he thought that he was pretty awesome last year, this year he thinks that he's King of Gryffindor. He really needs to get his head deflated. And because I'm his only cousin on the team, he is unusually evil towards me. So normally, James is in a pretty good mood. But apparently, me sleeping instead of turning up for Quidditch five minutes early, like I usually do, had pissed him off.

After he stormed off I ran into the castle to get my Quidditch things. I was sprinting down the stairs while tying my hair up into a ponytail, which I obviously should have known was a bad idea. I mean, I don't mean to sound snobby or arrogant, but I'm actually really smart. I'm good at a lot of things, however, I am really, really clumsy. It's really embarrassing. But, as I was running and thinking about my ponytail, and damning James, and my hair, and the sun, and my skin, which was beginning to burn, I tripped and fell.

I landed on my rear at the bottom of the stairs, staring dazedly up at Scorpius Malfoy and Demetria DuChamps, who was laughing.

"Nice, Weasel," Scorpius commented. "Falling down the stairs. It's a wonder that you're on the Quidditch team when you're so… uncoordinated. But, I supposed that Cousin Jamie saved you a spot on the team, huh?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," I muttered. "The stairs were slippery."

"That's what you said last week," Demetria accused, still smiling, showing off her creepily pointed teeth. I have this theory that Demetria is actually a vampire, willing to drink my blood at any given moment. I mean, she's pale enough to have slept in a coffin her entire life. I wonder if she's burned by the sun. Apparently, I am.

"Well, last week the stairs were slippery too," I said indignantly. "And I'll have you know, Malfoy, that Gryffindor is going to kick Slytherin ass on Saturday."

Scorpius just looked at me lazily. "Ha. Ha," he remarked dryly. "I look forward to seeing it."

"So do I," I countered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late."

"Oh, yes, can't have that," Demetria said, rolling her eyes. "Little Miss Perfect can't be late for _anything_. Nothing is ever wrong with little Miss Perfect. Little Miss Perfect is _perfect._" She said this so bitterly it surprised me.

I stared at her blankly for a few moments. "Demetria, I just fell down the stairs."

Scorpius snorted. When Demetria turned to glare at him he turned it into a cough, and suddenly he appeared to be having a coughing fit. Demetria and I only waited till it passed.

When he finished, I said, "Malfoy are you quite sure you're alright?"

He nodded sincerely. "I just coughed down a few Weasel insults, wouldn't want you to punch me again."

I blushed, making my face even redder. "Well," I said awkwardly. "That was one time. I'll see you two horrors in Potions." With that I swept off, keeping my eyes to the ground in order to avoid tripping or falling over anything.

Okay. So I punched Scorpius Malfoy. It's not like it was on purpose or anything. Well, fine, it was. It was during a Quidditch match when he barreled into me, obviously trying to steal the Quaffle. My eyes were so focused on the goal ahead that I absent-mindedly punched him. Unfortunately, I punched him quite hard, and he suffered greatly. Or so he told me, a few days after the match.

"I'll have you know, Rose, that I am suffering greatly," he said mournfully during Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Shut up," I hissed, trying to take notes.

"I'm certain that my nose is slightly off-center now."

"What a shame."

"Indeed it is. It's a good thing that I'm a nice person, you know, because otherwise I would probably introduce you to a few dark artifacts hidden in Malfoy Manor."

"Oh, I'm scared," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"You should be. I once blew off my eyebrows."

"You _blew off _your eyebrows?"

"It was really sad. Luckily, they grew back. My nose will never be the same though."

"Miss Weasley? Do you have the answer perhaps?" The professor was looking at me hopefully. I squirmed in my seat. I'd been too busy bickering with Scorpius that I hadn't heard the question. I slowly shook my head.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Grindylows."

"That answer is indeed correct!" The professor told us happily.

I wonder how Scorpius does that. I mean, he's late to almost every class, his hair always looks uncombed, and he constantly fidgets, unable to sit still. And yet, his test scores rival mine. On the Quidditch field he is my hardest competitor. Scorpius Malfoy is my biggest competition in just about everything, but he seems to do it so effortlessly, while I study and struggle and practice. He annoys me _so much. _

By the time I showed up at the Quidditch field I was twenty minutes late. James was actually red with fury. "We had to practice with only two chasers, Rosie! You know that ruins our entire strategy!""

"Sorry!" I called, mounting my broom and kicking off the ground. "I ran into some… people."

"Slytherins?" James asked. "Did they bother you?"

I sighed. "No, James, don't worry about it."

James is one of the few people in school who really cares about the Houses. Maybe he's been hanging out too much with my dad. I don't know. But it's really annoying.

My lobster legs were really hurting by now, and I couldn't cast a cooling charm, as my wand was in my dorm. This was actually becoming a really bad day.

And it continued being bad. At dinner the House Elves had made chicken. Which was really inconsiderate, as some of us are vegetarians! I mean, honestly, some respect please? I am a vegetarian to save animals, and watching my friends and family stuff themselves with a harmless chicken that never did anyone any harm is just really annoying. Especially because I found myself actually tasting a little bit when no one was looking.

Luckily, I can get away with stuff like that when Al is my best friend. When we were in third year, Al was attacked by a hippogriff, leaving him blind for life. Fortunately for him, he has me to make sure no one cheats him or anything.

"Rosie, what happened to your arms?" Felicia, one of my friends asked.

"Um. I fell asleep in the sun."

"Well that's too bad," Felicia said. "You know, the rest of us just use a tanning spell."

"Felicia, I am never going to use a tanning spell. Here Al, have some dead chicken," I said, putting some on his plate, and snagging a tiny bit for myself. Hey, the chicken was already dead. It's too late to save it now, right?

"You know, Rosie, you're really missing out on something here," Al said.

"Hm-hm," I agreed, licking my fingers.

"Ever consider rejoining the meat team?"

"No way," I said, stealing a tiny bit of Al's chicken.

He shrugged, apparently giving up on me. "Did you do the essay on Redcaps?"

"Absolutely. I just hope it isn't too long."

Al made a face. "You fall asleep in the sun, barely make it to Quidditch practice, and come running to dinner afterwards. At which point did you write the essay?"

"This morning," I told him. "I woke up at five again. And how did you know that I was late for Quidditch?"

"James told me. He sounded furious."

"He was," I agreed.

I looked over Albus' head and caught the eye of Scorpius at the Slytherin table. He arched an eyebrow and pointed discreetly at the chicken in my hand. I immediately dropped it onto my plate.

It's human to have cravings. And, really, going vegetarian cold turkey on January first really isn't that easy! Do you know how many things actually have meat in them?!

Cold turkey sandwiches taste good, too.

For a split second it looked as though he smiled but then he stuck out his tongue at me. He stuck out his tongue at me! Like we're five or something! I should have rolled my eyes and looked away but for some unexplainable, possibly non-existent reason, I stuck out my tongue as well.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Rose?"

I mentally stumbled back into reality. Felicia was looking at me with a bewildered expression on her face.

"Were you sticking your tongue out at Scorpius Malfoy?" she asked.

"What? No!" I exclaimed shaking my head violently. "Why would I stick my tongue out at Scorpius Malfoy?"

"I don't know," Felicia said, shrugging. "I don't know how the kids flirt these days."

"_Flirt?"_ I repeated. "Honestly, Felicia –"

"Why are you flirting with Scorpius Malfoy?" Albus interrupted. "I thought he was number one on the list of people you would kill if you didn't have a conscience?"

"He _is_!" I cried. "I'm not flirting with anyone!"

"Who're you flirting with?" Jane Booner, a girl from my dormitory asked, emerging from behind one of her heavy romance novels. Jane is possibly THE most romantic girl I know, but she spends so much time reading and daydreaming that she can't ever take her head out of the clouds long enough for some actual romance. But, of course, just my luck, she decides to pull herself out of her latest novel just to bother me. Not that Jane did it on purpose (I think) but still. It's like fate hates me.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Felicia answered helpfully.

"SCORPIUS MALFOY?" a voice down the table boomed. All of us turned our heads. James had a forkful of chicken halfway to his mouth, and his face was as red as my hair. His eyes seemed to be popping out of his head in the most alarming way. In the back of my mind I wondered if I should get him to Madam Pomfrey before they fell out. "You're flirting with Scorpius Malfoy? Rosie, he is our mortal enemy! _Mortal enemy!_"

"Really, James, isn't that taking it a bit too far?" I asked. Honestly, mortal enemy? Scorpius can be a prick, but I don't think that he wants to kill any of us.

"So you are flirting with him!" James accused, dropping his fork.

I was very much aware of the fact that the entire table was listening now. There's nothing more entertaining to the other Gryffindors than a Weasley/Potter family quarrel. I get why, I mean, the whole family know each other too well and all of us have tempers, but why did everyone have to hear THIS?

"No," I said simply. "Felicia misunderstood something." I fixed Felicia with one of my best death glares. She only shrugged.

There are two people in this world immune to my death glares. One is Albus, for obvious reasons, but he definitely understands my death pinch. Or punch. Felicia, however, has this amazing ability to zone out everyone who for some reason is mad at her, unless she's also mad at them. But other than that, my death glares work wonders, so I fixed James with one as well until he shrunk back into his seat, picked up his fork and ate his chicken peacefully.

My death glares are one of my specialties. I narrow my eyes, widen my nostrils and make my lips into a thin line and imagine blowing fire out of my nostrils like a dragon. It works.

I sank back into my own seat and picked at the (boring!) potatoes on my plate. I ventured another look at the Slytherin table and saw that both Scorpius and Demetria were doubled over with laughter. It hadn't occurred to me until then that they might have heard everything.

If I one day decide to go drown myself in the Lake, I'll leave a note for my friends and family letting them know that it was their entire fault.


	2. In Which Scorpius is Pelted With Eggs

That night, while I was rereading _Hogwarts, A History_ after the others had fallen asleep, I got quite a shock.

I should probably start by saying that in my dormitory we are five girls. Myself (duh) and Felicia and Jane and then two girls named Ellen and Eurydice. Ellen and Eurydice are mostly fond of gossip and giggling, two things which, honestly, I hate. I know I'm sounding like a stuck – up bookworm, but I suppose that's who I am. I don't have much patience for what other people are doing with their lives.

Imagine my shock when the supposed – to – be – asleep – Eurydice suddenly whispered, "Rose!"

I slammed my book shut and twisted around in the bed, nearly strangling myself with my sheets in the process. Eurydice was standing at the end of my bed.

"Um, hi?" I finally managed. I looked at my watch. Half past one in the morning. Why wasn't she asleep? Normally, I would be asleep, too, but having slept in the sun I wasn't feeling particularly tired. That and my arms, shoulders and back were burning so badly that I couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in. None of my cooling charms were working.

Of course my legs haven't got any color. Typical, right? I mean, I just want nice tan legs and yet, somehow, they remain completely pearly white while the rest of my body is LOBSTER RED. Well, not my entire body. There are these awful lines all over my torso, so you can see just where my clothes was. There's even a little patch on my stomach that's red, because my shirt must have gone up a bit. As if this isn't enough, I have become enormously freckly.

Eurydice sat down on my bed. "So," she said.

"So," I repeated, feeling awkward.

"Look, I couldn't help overhearing what you were talking about at dinner tonight," Eurydice said.

I don't think anyone could help overhearing that.

"Do you really like Scorpius Malfoy?" Eurydice asked.

I felt the need to roll my eyes. I _really _wanted to just give them a roll. I mean, what kind of person keeps themselves awake for over three hours just to get a little gossip? But I somehow managed to keep my eyes firmly in place.

"No, of course not," I said.

"Are you _sure_?"

I sighed, starting to feel a little bit annoyed. This was probably one of the most pointless conversations ever. Really, we could be doing a hundred more productive things than this. Like sleeping. I was actually beginning to feel a little tired, and, of course, the more I thought about it, the harder it was to stifle the yawns.

"Yes," I said dully.

"Well, it's just that – that you and him are always talking and laughing and…" Eurydice trailed off and in the darkness I could see her make some hopeless gesture with her hands.

"It's called friendly bickering," I told her. "I don't like Scorpius Malfoy in that way, and he _definitely _doesn't feel that way about me."

Sleep was beginning to be more and more appealing.

"Oh thank Merlin," Eurydice finally breathed. "Because, Rose, the thing is that last week in Potions with the Slytherins I suddenly realized that I am hopelessly in love with Scorpius!"

I blinked. And it wasn't from sleepiness.

"You _suddenly realized_?"

"Yeah," Eurydice continued, oblivious to my sarcasm. "It was something about the way his hair fell into his eyes – those gorgeous green eyes… You know he never combs his hair? It's adorable. It looks like he just got out of bed."

The fact that his hair is constantly uncombed is exactly the reason that I _don't _find him adorable. Scorpius is a pest. Plain and simple. Some of Scorpius' favorite things to do are to beat me in tests and on the Quidditch field (when he can) and to watch Demetria pick on me.

I don't even know why Demetria and Scorpius are friends. Aside from a common sense of humor and House they have almost nothing in common. Demetria has this groomed look about her (and rather frightening vampire features) while Scorpius has a rather careless appearance, his robes always in slight disarray, one of his shoelaces _always_ untied and the precious uncombed hair that Eurydice seemed to find so _adorable_. Demetria is pale and looks sickly while Scorpius is tan from always being outside. This also means that his hair is almost completely white, being bleached from the sun.

"Yes, well," I said. "Speaking of bed…"

Eurydice finally seemed to understand and she bade me good night and crawled into her own bed. I flopped down on my back, untangled myself from the sheets and pulled them up to my neck.

I dreamed of falling down the stairs, at the bottom of which Scorpius and Demetria were standing, laughing and eating cold turkey sandwiches.

"Are you absolutely _positive_ that you don't like me?" Scorpius asked, smirking.

"YES!" I bellowed.

Demetria sneered at me, revealing her awful pointed teeth. Putting her (delicious!) sandwich aside, she crouched down next to me and sunk her teeth into my neck. The last thing I remember is looking past Demetria and seeing Scorpius doubled over with laughter, before he turned into a plate with bacon.

* * *

The next day at breakfast James shoved Al unceremoniously out of the way to sit next to me.

"Good morning to you, too," Al grumbled, massaging his left arm.

"Rosie," James said, ignoring Al. "We have to talk."

I raised my eyebrows across the table at Felicia, who was straightening in her seat now that James was sitting with us. I sighed inwardly. Of all the people that Felicia (who, by the way, is possibly the most gorgeous girl that I know) could fancy, she has to fancy James. James is not only arrogant and bossy he also delights in other people's humiliation and especially likes to tease me. But I have seen on occasion how ridiculously overprotective he can be of Al, Lilly, Hugo and I.

But still! Felicia could have almost any guy she wanted simply because of her looks. She has this gorgeous platinum blonde hair that falls in perfect ringlets. She has wide, innocent looking blue eyes and pouty lips all set in a heart shaped face. Felicia could model. Not that she wants to. No, Felicia wants to be the first female Minister of Magic.

"Jamie," I greeted. "I'm flattered that you care for little me so much that you'll beat up the disabled to sit next to me."

"Huh?" James said, clueless. "I need to talk Quidditch tactics with you."

"Oh."

"Look, we're playing Slytherin in _less than two weeks_!" he said, piling food on his plate. How do boys eat so much? "We need to be prepared. Now, look, Rosie, I think I've figured out the Slytherin team's strategy. Arnold and I have been – er – spying on the Slytherin practice."

"Spying, James?" I said. "Isn't that a little low, even for you?"

"All's fair in love and war, Rose, and this is _revolution_."

I didn't ask what we were revolting against.

James has always taken Quidditch seriously. Not that I don't, I mean, I am one of the most committed Chasers Gryffindor has ever had. I'm committed to everything that I do- Quidditch, Prefect duties, Chess Club, tutoring and my schoolwork. But the way James talks about Quidditch, you would think that he was an army general directing his troops.

"Right," I finally said, giving up trying to argue. "So what's Slytherin's strategy?"

"Each one of their Chasers is going to tail one of our Chasers - the one that matches most in size and skill. The Slytherin Chaser will constantly try to win the Quaffle from their particular Chaser," James explained.

"So who's tailing me?" I asked.

"Well," James said. "Mortimer Cross is rather tall and, well, has meat on his bones if you catch my drift, so my guess is that he'll be tailing Arnold, seeing as he is our biggest chaser. Ophiuchus Nott will tail me, because I heard them talking about it. So that leaves –"

"Scorpius Malfoy," I said dully. I wonder if Scorpius died tomorrow, would he come back to haunt me as a ghost? Because his name really does seem to follow me everywhere.

"Yeah," James said. "And it makes sense. You're both skinny, he's a bit smaller than the others, you're both very fast – it's a perfect match!"

I caught Felicia's eye across the table, and I could see that she, too, was thinking of a perfect match in a way not remotely connected with Quidditch.

"So," James continued, unaware. "You need to keep this in mind during the match. And practice sharp turns, so that you'll be able to get away from him at any time. By the way, there's Quidditch practice tonight."

"_Tonight_?!" I exclaimed. "But we practiced last night, James, and I have homework-"

This was not what he wanted to hear.

"So?!" James half-yelled. "Quidditch is important! I'm getting the feeling that you're not taking this seriously! You also showed up for practice late yesterday. Slytherin is a real threat, Rose, a very_ serious_ threat!"

His eyes were bulging again. How can Felicia fancy a boy who's eyes look like they're about to fall out every time he gets angry?

"_I have homework_," James said in a very high pitched voice, that didn't sound remotely like mine. "Honestly, do you really think a little homework is more important than winning the Cup? You do realize that if we don't win this game we're _out of the running_?"

"I realize!" I said hastily. "I get it."

After wolfing down some toast I quickly grabbed Al and Felicia and dragged them off to Potions.

"We don't have Potions for the next twenty minutes," Felicia complained. "Why can't we eat?"

"I'm escaping from James," I said, holding on to Al's elbow and guiding him through the school. "He's gone completely fanatic about the next match against Slytherin. He's even begun to scare _me_. Stairs down," I added to Al.

We started walking down the staircase going farther towards the dungeons. "Well, I think it's nice that he is committed to Quidditch," Felicia said.

"More like married to Quidditch," Al muttered.

At that very moment someone came soaring through the air behind us and crashed heavily into Al and me, sending us soaring down the stairs past a bewildered Felicia. I shut my eyes and stretched out my arms to avoid the painful fall, which happened anyway. Once I was sprawled on the floor I opened my eyes.

Felicia and Ophiuchus, the Slytherin Chaser, were peering down at me.

"Sorry," Ophiuchus said, grinning apologetically. "I was escaping one of Demetria's Bat – Bogey Hexes."

I fixed him with my best Death Glare and watched him squirm.

"Really, I'm sorry!" he tried again. "Look, I'll help you with your books."

I told Felicia and Al to go ahead without me.

Ophiuchus gathered my books together in a flash and handed them to me, along with my bag before helping me to my feet.

"Thanks, Ophiuchus." I muttered. "Very gentleman like."

He flashed a smile at me. "Ophi."

"Ophi," I echoed. "Much easier."

Ophi and I walked to Potions together, talking along the way. I was surprised by how nice he was and how _different _from Scorpius he was. Scorpius and Demetria being the only two people from Slytherin that I interact with, I had somehow expected all Slytherins to be just like them. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised that Ophi was not at all like those two. He was actually really, genuinely _nice_. In fact, I would usually dock five points for inappropriate behavior in the corridors, but decided against it. I wanted to tell him that he was sorted into the wrong House, but I restrained myself. I don't think that insulting people's Houses is the way to make friends. Besides, Felicia was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but the Hat finally decided that she ought to be a Gryffindor instead. I was very nearly sorted into Ravenclaw.

In Potions, however, my good mood evaporated quickly. Al had saved me a seat next to him and right behind him was – I shuddered – Demetria. As I slowly sank into the chair next to Al my entire dream from last night came rushing back through my mind.

I know it's ridiculous to be afraid that a fifteen year old girl at Hogwarts is really a vampire intent on drinking my blood, but Demetria is really, _really_ frightening! Those pointed teeth are enough to give anyone nightmares.

"Hey, Weasel, fall down any stairs today?" she asked.

I suppose my burning face was enough of an answer because she snickered. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't my fault, it was actually _hers _for trying to hex Ophi, but I decided any attempts to reason with a deadly bloodsucker would be fruitless.

"Ignore her," Al breathed to me.

Professor Slughorn had just begun telling us that today we would be learning about the Draught of Peace, a potion _very_ important in the O., so naturally I was prepared to listen closely. Right as Slughorn was writing the ingredients up on the board, the door to the dungeon was kicked open and someone came sprinting in, sliding to a stop behind me.

"Sorry to be late, Professor," Scorpius panted. I didn't even need to look to know who it was. I heard him throwing himself into the seat next to Demetria.

"Quite alright, Mr. Malfoy, be sure it doesn't happen again," Slughorn said. I clenched my fist together.

Honestly! Why didn't Slughorn dock five points? I hate that Scorpius can just waltz into class when he wants to, like he doesn't even care and still have an average of Exceeds Expectations!

I forced my concentration back to the Draught of Peace. I had my parchment and my quill in front of me, ready to take any notes that were necessary, when something landed on my parchment in front of me. A carefully folded piece of parchment. I knew what it was almost before I unfolded it.

**Weasley – **

**I know that you know about the Slytherin team strategy. **

**SM **

I wanted to ignore it. I _really_ wanted to ignore it. But even as I set it aside I could feel it glaring at me, begging me to write something scathing back to him.

_Malfoy – _

_So what? _

_RW_

I threw it back over my shoulder, not caring much where it landed. A few seconds later a quiet scuffling with his chair told me that it had not landed on his desk. I smirked.

**So aren't you worried? You'll have to deal with the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen. **

**SM **

_No, YOU'LL have to deal with the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen. _

_And I'm not worried. Try telling James, though, if you want a reaction; he'll be worried. _

_How do you even know that I know? _

_RW_

Fuming, I turned around and threw the note so that it almost hit him on the nose. Unfortunately, he managed to catch it. Who does he think he is? The best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen, honestly! I'll admit that Scorpius is good, but he's not exactly earth – shattering. I'm quite good, too, you know. Just because Scorpius tries to challenge me in practically everything I do, does not mean that he has the right to go about saying he's better than me.

Thankfully, I was chosen to be a prefect and he wasn't. When I found out I really just wanted to jump around and shout, "HA! Take that!" But the problem is that I don't really think that Scorpius cares about being prefect, which completely takes the fun out of everything.

**The Slytherin mind works in wonderful and mysterious ways. **

**I suppose the only way to find out which of us is the best is a little competition. Are you up for it? **

**Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen **

I bit my lip while reading it. Damn the fact that I really can't say no to a challenge! WHY do I always feel the need to prove that I'm the best? Especially when it comes to Scorpius. I think it's something about the whole attitude he has about himself. It just infuriates me, and I want nothing else than to prove him wrong.

_Of course I'm up for it. Any chance to prove that I'M the best! _

_What kind of competition? _

_Rose Weasley, in every way superior to Scorpius Malfoy _

**Tomorrow, five O'clock on the Quidditch Field. **

**You, me, a few witnesses and an unbiased Keeper. **

**See who can get the most Quaffles through the hoop in ten shots. **

**Let the best ****man****woman**** Chaser win. **

**- Scorpius Malfoy, who doesn't even want to argue about this anymore, because he is better than Rose Weasley in every way. **

_I accept. _

_Rose _

I turned around as I handed this note to Scorpius. Our eyes met for a second and he grinned at me, winking. I almost grinned back, but then I remembered that I'm supposed to be besting him so I stiffly turned around in my seat. I was really trying to concentrate on Professor Slughorn again, when another folded note landed on my parchment. I wanted to cry out, "ENOUGH!" but unfolded the note instead.

_**Miss Perfect Prefect Weasley CAN'T be passing notes during a class, can she? Especially one that is so crucial to the O.!**_

_**I think it's funny how you pretend to be better than everyone, yet you're still sometimes tempted to be just as "lowly" as the rest of us.**_

_**Demetria DuChamps**_

I decided not to think about the fact that she quite possibly was a vampire, and wrote simply:

_Go away. _

* * *

That evening, Quidditch practice started with James passing out eggs. We all stood bewildered while he shoved three eggs into our hands.

"Er – Jamie," Avril, our Seeker, said. "Why do we need eggs?"

"You know that raw eggs are unhealthy, right?" Arnold said.

James stopped passing eggs around and beamed at us. "I," he said, actually pointing to himself, "have just outsmarted all the Slytherins."

We all stared at him dumbfounded. James has said some incredible things through the years, but I think he just outdid himself. How raw eggs were part of outsmarting the entire Slytherin House, I don't think any of us understood.

"You know that fifth year, Lincoln Morris, who blew off his arm three years ago because he was flying with a wand?" James began, seemingly unaware that we were all completely clueless. "So McGonagall forbid flying with wands, which is quite inconvenient when the Slytherin team comes to spy on our practice. But I have figured out the solution!"

James looked around at us with gleam in his eye.

"We pelt them with eggs!"

No one said anything. James started to look annoyed that no one understood his brilliance.

"So that we won't be breaking any rules!" he cried, trying to explain.

"Brilliant, James," our Keeper, Rebekah, said. "Good thinking."

"Yeah, Jamie, that was – uh- really inventive," I said.

James swelled up with pride. "Now," he said. "Let's have a good practice alright? And remember! _We must win that Cup!_ This – this is my last year at Hogwarts and nothing would be better than seeing _my team_ with that beautiful, gleaming, shining Cup in our hands. Now, let's have the best practice we've ever had!"

We kicked off and I felt that soaring feeling in my stomach that I feel every time I kick off from the ground on a broomstick. I love flying. Even though I may only have one of the old Nimbus Two Thousands, nothing beats zooming through the slightly cool evening March air.

James let out the Snitch, the Bludgers and finally the Quaffle. We had a good practice, especially because James seemed to be confident enough in the team's ability and didn't have one of his rage black outs.

"I see two Slytherins!" Avril suddenly yelled, pointing down.

Sure enough, curled together in the corner of the bleachers were to unmistakable Slytherin uniforms.

"Alright, team," James said, looking delighted at the chance to finally make use of his idea. "Let's start the _egg attack!_"

Feeling ridiculous, I flew after the others, pulling the eggs out of my pockets. Our Beaters came close enough and in a simultaneous movement hurled the eggs at the two Slytherins. With a SPLAT! the two eggs hit their mark.

"Bugger off!" one of them yelled, in a voice that could only belong to –

"SCORPIUS MALFOY!" James bellowed, his eyes popping again. "I should've known it was you!"

In a furious rage several Gryffindors pelted Scorpius with eggs. He rummaged around in his robes looking desperately for his wand before giving up, shrugging and taking refuge under the bleachers.

"And who is your friend?" James roared.

The other Slytherin raised his face only to meet another egg storm. I threw all three of my own eggs as hard as I could before realizing that it was Ophi.

"Ophi!" I exclaimed, but my voice was drowned out by the angry Gryffindors around me.

"Rosie!" James shouted. "Can't you dock points for this?"

I shook my head. "They weren't _actually_ breaking any rules," I told him.

James finally seemed to think that the egg attack had lasted long enough, and, satisfied with the result, told the team that practice was over for the day. The entire Gryffindor team flew back to the changing rooms with the exception of me.

I flew down to the bleachers and landed.

"Sorry," I said to Ophi as Scorpius was emerging from under the bleachers.

"Ah, well," Ophi said, shrugging. "Consider us even, I guess."

Scorpius was wiping his face with his robes. "Remind me to never again leave my wand in the dormitory," he said.

I tried not to laugh, but it must have shown on my face anyway, because Scorpius said, "It's okay to laugh, Weasel, I would have laughed, had I not been the victim."

He grinned widely.

"That was ingenious, though, I'll have to tell my team about that…"

"I should go change," I told them, mounting my broom again.

"See you around," Ophi said.

"See you tomorrow, five O'clock!" Scorpius said in a far more serious tone.

"By the way," I said. "Who is our unbiased Keeper?"

"I was thinking the Hufflepuff Keeper," Scorpius said. "She's nice and she's not taking any sides."

I couldn't see anything wrong with this so I merely nodded.

"Right. See you tomorrow."

I flew away from the bleachers, feeling the wind in my face. I did a couple of dives, rolls and loops just to give Scorpius an idea of what was in store for him.


	3. In Which Al Jumps Repeatedly

I had a hard time concentrating on studying the next day. For some reason, every time I tried to put my mind to Summoning Charms or Draught of Peace, my thoughts seemed to wander to the Quidditch pitch and how I would have to prove myself as the best Chaser. The worst part is that I'm fairly sure that Scorpius knows about my nervousness, because all day he caught my eye and winked or smirked that superior, "I know I'm the best" smirk.

It infuriated me so much that Al finally burst out, "Give it a rest, Rosie! You'll prove yourself as a Chaser tonight, and he will stop badgering you."

I frowned at Al. Considering the fact that he's blind and unable to watch Quidditch he seems to know a great deal about my Chaser abilities.

"What do you know?" I snarled unnecessarily. "You haven't _seen_ me play Quidditch for years!"

As soon as I had said it, I felt awful. Al and I usually don't talk about his blindness in that way. Sure, we mention it casually and use it in jokes and so on (because really, if we never talked about it there would be a very large elephant in the room) but we never use it in an insult.

"I'm sorry," I blurted a moment later. "I didn't mean it. I'm just worried about tonight. I mean, could you just imagine the look on Scorpius' face if he wins?"

Al sighed very audibly. "Yes, Rose, I can imagine and I sympathize with you. But really, stop letting him get to you and think about something else for a change. This is ridiculous."

I gave up trying to get some support from Al and tried Felicia instead.

"Well, Rose, you have a smirk too, you know," Felicia said tentatively. "I just don't think that you're aware of it."

I could almost feel my eyes bulging like Jamie's do.

"A smirk?" I repeated.

"Well…" Felicia seemed to be struggling for words. "When we get a test back and you've got a good score you always smirk a little – just for a second, you know."

I do not. I ought to know if I smirk or not, and I happen to know that I _don't_. Sure, I might smile a bit when I get a test back, but that is merely because I've gotten a good score! What am I supposed to do, sulk about it? Or I could let out a whoop of laughter before crumpling the test in my hand and throwing it over my shoulder like it was nothing.

Oh, wait. That's what a certain Malfoy does.

I finally went to the only person that I knew for a fact would support me.

"Look, Rosie, Scorpius Malfoy has nothing on you. Nothing. Sure, he might be the Slytherin team's best Chaser, but that doesn't mean that he is better than you. Oh, no, definitely not. I mean he's okay, I'll give him that, but you could easily wipe him out. Actually, Rose, you have to wipe him out, I simply can't bear the look on his face if you don't, insulting that is…"

James trailed off, shaking his head.

"You'll be there, won't you?" I asked him.

"Of course!" James exclaimed. "How could I not? I have to watch you beat that Scorpius Malfoy."

"What if …" I lowered my voice so that the rest of Gryffindor table wouldn't hear. "What if I don't beat him?"

"Then I'll beat him into pulp," Jamie said calmly. "I'm not too worried. No matter what the outcome is, he won't be happy."

Though I hoped that no beatings would be necessary, it did make me feel slightly better that at least Scorpius was going to be suffering, no matter how bad I was.

**

After lunch our Potions class was cancelled due to an accident with house elves, garlic and the dungeon catching fire, which turned out to be inextinguishable. Felicia, Al and I retreated into the library – my favorite place in the world, because I can read and just immerse myself in books; Felicia's favorite place in the world, because she can catch snogging couples and Al's least favorite place in the world, because, honestly, if you're blind and uninterested in gossip the library is pretty much useless.

Al huffed and threw himself into a nearby chair.

"What am I even doing here?" he asked me. "I hate this place."

"So go find some of your other friends," I told him, not even looking up from my book. He didn't answer, which clearly meant that even though he hates the library, he would rather be here with Felicia and me than with somewhere else with other people. It's touching.

Felicia had disappeared behind one of the bookshelves when Al leaned a bit closer to me.

"Rose, I have to tell you something," he whispered.

I looked up from my book.

"What?"

"Uh – you know Felicia?"

"My best friend?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, I know her," I answered, wondering where he was going with this.

"Yeah, well," Al stuttered. "She's – I mean – I… Does she like James?"

I was a little taken aback by this. First of all, Felicia has had several boyfriends and he's never been interested in any of them before, in fact, he made a point out of forgetting their names. (At this point I should probably marvel at how Felicia has managed to have several boyfriends when I have never even managed to have one. Not a single boyfriend.) Second, if Al doesn't care about Felicia's love life, he cares even less about James'. Al has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to know about his brother's conquests. So, really, Al's sudden interest was a little odd. I wondered if he was getting soft.

"Well, yeah," I said honestly. "She told me about it. Weird, though, isn't it, how anyone can like James?"

Al was silent for a few moments. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me.

"Oh. Merlin," I said, shutting my book loudly and letting it glide to the floor. "You. Like. Felicia!"

Al suddenly turned very red. "No!" he said vehemently. "She's my friend! Why would I –"

"Why, hello there," a voice interrupted Al. He jumped about two feet into the air.

"Demetria," I said sourly.

"Rose," she said in the exact same tone.

The two of us stared at each other for a few moments. For some reason, Demetria didn't seem to have the need to blink. Her wide silver – blue eyes seemed to be boring holes into mine. My eyes started to water and I blinked a couple of times. It didn't seem to annoy Demetria, though, she just kept staring. I wondered if she was thinking about how I would taste.

"Ah, a Weasel and a Potter," somebody said behind Demetria. I tore my gaze away from her to see – oh, for goodness sake! – Scorpius Malfoy.

"Scorpius," I seethed.

"Rose," he said in a perfectly polite voice. He, however, did not seem to want to start a staring contest. "What might you two be whispering about here amongst the bookshelves? Worried about this afternoon, Rosie?"

"Don't call me that," I said automatically. Only my family and Felicia are allowed to say Rosie. It's an awful name that has stalked me since childhood. I am ROSE.

"Why not?"

"It's – it's not my name," I said lamely.

"I've heard people calling you that," he countered.

"Well, I don't like them calling me that," I told him. "I'm Rose."

Scorpius just looked at me for a few moments. He didn't stare in an intimidating way, he didn't wink at me – he just looked.

"Yeah, Rose suits you better," he finally said.

Demetria rolled her eyes and looked significantly at Scorpius. Scorpius sighed and said, "Well, I've got to go. We're looking for, uh, books."

"In a library?" Al said. "How fascinating."

Demetria sneered at us and the two of them stalked off. I picked up my book from the floor, letting out a breath I didn't realize that I had been holding.

"I can't stand Demetria," I muttered.

"Me neither," said Al.

"Do you ever get the feeling that she wants to eat you?" I asked tentatively.

"What?"

"Eat you."

"Do you mean metaphorically?"

"No, like, literally bite you and suck your blood out," I said.

Al was silent for a few moments. "No."

"Me neither," I said quickly. I decided that the reason that Al never felt this way was because he couldn't see her awful, bloodthirsty eyes.

"Hey," someone suddenly said. For the second time Al jumped in the air and I dropped my book. What is with people suddenly appearing out of nowhere?

It was Ophi.

"Hey," I said, smiling much more at him than at Scorpius and Demetria. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, Potions was cancelled, so I decided to go to the library," said Ophi.

"That's exactly what we did," I told him. "Do you want to sit?"

Ophi took a seat next to me and glanced at the title of my book.

"_Important Modern Magical Discoveries_," he read. "Yeah, I've read that."

"You have?"

"Last year," Ophi said. "I took it out for a bit of light reading."

The book was about as thick as my thigh. Clearly, both Ophi and I liked books and the library.

"Do you read a lot, then?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, all the time!" Ophi exclaimed, his face suddenly lighting up. "I read about a book a week – I usually steer clear of the library, though, I don't like reading in here, it's too stuffy."

"You must be at the top of your class," I said, awed.

Ophi shook his head sadly. "No, Scorpius is. He's really smart too, just in a different way. He doesn't read, but he has the most amazing memory. I spend most of my time studying, though; I don't play Quidditch or anything. I've noticed you're a pretty good Chaser."

"You think so?" I asked, exceptionally pleased. "Thanks!"

"Ophi!"

Al jumped, I dropped my book.

"Scorpius," Ophi said, smiling and turning away from me to look at the blond who was positively glowering at him. "What's going on?"

"I, uh, well it's just that…" Scorpius trailed off, clearly lost for words. I have never seen him so flustered before. Scorpius is very unlike me in that way – he never suddenly doesn't know what to say. He is incredibly graceful, both physically and verbally.

Can you say that? _Verbally graceful_?

Demetria suddenly appeared at Scorpius' side. I wonder if he ever gets sick of her trailing him around. In fact, I wonder if he is ever afraid of her eating him. But then again I suppose that she's nicer to him than she is to me, otherwise there would be something very wrong about their friendship.

"Ophi, why aren't you asking McGonagall about getting new Quidditch uniforms?" Demetria asked coolly. "We agreed that you – being bookish and charming, and McGonagall's favorite Slytherin – would ask her."

"Oh," said Ophi. "Well, I thought that –"

"I think you should do it now," Demetria said.

Ophi squirmed under Demetria's gaze and then finally jumped to his feet. "Right. I'll get right to it."

He smiled apologetically at me before dashing off. At least I am not the only one who is afraid of Demetria.

Demetria turned her gaze to me and I squirmed about just as much as Ophi, but I refused to back down.

"What's your problem?" I finally blurted out.

"Perfect Prefect Rosie," she said in a singsong voice.

"Don't call me-"

"You have the hearts of several boys in your hand, yet what do you do? You walk all over them," Demetria continued.

"I – what? What boys?"

"You pretend to be so good and kind and generous and helpful and yet you're just scum, you know that? Just scum," Demetria said, an awful venom in her voice.

"What're you-"

"You can pretend to be better than us, but you really aren't, Rosie."

"I just told you not to call me-"

"I'll call you whatever I bloody want!" she finally shrieked. Then just as abruptly, she turned on her heel and stormed away.

Al leapt to his feet with his wand in his hand. "What was she playing at?"

"Isn't it _obvious_?" Scorpius said in a dull voice.

"What?" I asked.

Scorpius shrugged in an infuriating way and then glanced at Al, as though he didn't want to say anything in front of him. I sighed very loudly, just so that Scorpius could get an idea of how much he irritated me.

"Stay here," I muttered to Al, then I grabbed Scorpius' arm and pulled him off to the other side of the bookshelf. "What?" I asked rather sharply.

Scorpius looked at me for a few moments, as though wondering what he should say. I suddenly realized that I was uncomfortably close to him. He smelled a bit like very expensive soap and, for some reason, cinnamon. I stepped back, bumping into the wall behind me.

"Demetria's jealous of you," he said very quickly.

"Why?" I asked blankly. "Why on Earth would _Demetria _of all people be-"

"Because you are a lot of things that she isn't," Scorpius said. The rest came out in a rush, as though he half wanted to say it and half wanted to just get it over with. "I mean, you're a prefect, you're very clever, you're pretty, you're on the Quidditch team, guys like you, you have a big family and all the teachers are eating out of the palm of your hand. Of course she wants to be you."

Scorpius then suddenly found a book behind him on common house elf ailments very interesting.

I stared openly at him as he flipped through the book, burying his face in it.

_Of course she wants to be you. _

_Guys like you. _

His words echoed in my head.

_You're pretty. _

"You think I'm pretty?" I suddenly asked, unable to stop myself. I immediately clamped a hand over my mouth. Why, oh why, oh why did I have to ask that? I sounded like a lovesick little girl! But still, did he? No one (besides my mother and countless aunts) had ever said to me that I was pretty before. No guys or anything. No one who wasn't obligated to say it.

"I just told you why my best friend hates you and that's all you can think about?" Scorpius asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well – I – I mean…" I trailed off. "No, of course not."

With an effort I gathered myself. "Of course that's not all I think about, don't be ridiculous. I'll see you at five O'clock."

I marched briskly off, grabbed Al, found Felicia and escaped from the library, choosing not to relay the story to them.

**

That afternoon at five O'clock there was a gathering of sorts at the Quidditch field. James, Felicia and Al were sitting in the bleachers, surrounded by Ophi, Demetria and a handful of other Slytherins.

"Don't worry," James had said to me before I went out onto the field. "You'll be fine. Besides, if everything goes wrong I'll cast a Confundus Charm on Malfoy."

"What?" I exclaimed. "No, James, no cheating."

"Come on," said James. "You know that the Slytherins wouldn't think twice before casting a Confundus Charm on you."

"Yes, but we don't have to sink to their level," I said.

"Go on, Rosie," Felicia said, waving me off and moving closer to James. "We'll be rooting for you."

I turned my back on them and walked out onto the Quidditch field. Scorpius was waiting there, his AirCruiser One Thousand in his hand. Beside him stood the Hufflepuff Keeper. The first thing I noticed about her – and don't think I'm a lesbian, or anything, because it was really hard _not _to notice – was her really big breasts. I'm serious. This girl was so curvy that it wasn't even funny. I wondered if she had magically inflated them or something. Now, my breasts aren't anything special, I mean, they're there and they aren't that big, but nor are they very small. Normally, people don't really go around staring at my chest, but I swear, this Hufflepuff Keeper must get it all the time.

"Hey," she said. "I'm Lena."

I turned to Scorpius and saw him smirking. Suddenly I wondered if the reason that he had chosen Lena instead of the Ravenclaw Keeper was because of Lena's chest. But then I told myself that I was being ridiculous. Scorpius wouldn't choose a Keeper because of her bra size, would he?

"Rose," I told her.

"Shake hands," Lena said.

Scorpius and I shook hands. I noticed for the first time how long his fingers were and how cool his hand was. I knew for a fact that mine was sweaty and hot from worry.

"Good luck," Scorpius said amiably.

"You too," I said through gritted teeth.

We proceeded to stare at each other a little longer before he suddenly let go of my hand.

"Let's do this," he said.

Lena took out the Quaffle. "Let's get up there," she said.

We mounted our brooms and zoomed into the air. I couldn't help but notice that Scorpius' AirCruiser was about ten times faster than my Nimbus. I reminded myself that this wasn't about how fast the brooms were but about talent. This didn't soothe me as Scorpius raced around the pitch.

"Well, Rose?" he called. "Feeling ready?"

"You have no idea," I shouted back at him.

Lena threw the Quaffle to me. "You're up first."

I took the Quaffle in my arms and flew so that I was facing Lena and the three hoops behind her. Down in the bleachers I could hear James' voice above all the others.

"GO ROSIE!" he shouted. "THIS IS TOO EASY!"

I concentrated on where I wanted it to go through. The middle hoop, I decided. I flew directly towards the far right hoop, trying to look as though I was taking aim for that one. Lena followed and just as she was most concentrated on the right hoop, I changed my aim at the last minute for the middle hoop. It went straight through.

"YES!" James yelled.

"One – Nil," said Lena, throwing the Quaffle to Scorpius.

Scorpius glanced at me, winked, and then zoomed off towards the goal posts. In a matter of seconds it was through the hoop.

The Slytherins in the stands below were just as noisy as James had been. Scorpius flew back to me.

"One – one," he muttered. "Let's see what you've got, Weasley."

I took the Quaffle and got it through. Take that, Scorpius.

Except that Scorpius did the exact same thing right afterwards.

"Perhaps we really are just as good," he called to me. I refused to acknowledge this and let the Quaffle soar through the hoops.

"Or maybe I'm just a little bit better," I told him.

And so it continued until the score was five – five.

"GET HIM, ROSIE!" James bellowed. "WE CANNOT LET HIM WIN!"

I took the Quaffle in my arms and glanced at Scorpius for a moment. He was smiling.

_You're pretty_.

He had never answered my question if he really thought I was pretty …

"MISS!" someone called.

I blinked, shocked. How could I have missed? Was I really so preoccupied with what Scorpius thought of me that I had failed to get the Quaffle through the hoop?

"Pressure getting to you?" Scorpius asked as he took aim and the Quaffle – of course – sailed easily through the hoop.

Five- six. This was not going so well, all of a sudden. Scorpius couldn't win – I wouldn't let him. I wouldn't be able to live with Scorpius and Demetria constantly gloating in my face about this. And – worse – James' disappointed expression.

Six – seven.

And then – the amazing thing happened – Scorpius missed. I threw my fist up in the air.

"YES!" I cried. Then I felt slightly ashamed, because Scorpius hadn't done the same when I missed.

I didn't say anything, though, only shrugged nonchalantly as I threw the Quaffle through the hoop.

Seven – seven.

Eight – eight.

And then –

"Oh no!" Lena exclaimed, clutching aimlessly at her chest. I thought that she really didn't need to draw any more attention to her chest; it was getting plenty on its own.

"What is it?" asked Scorpius.

"My – my locket, it's gone, I must have dropped it!" she cried hysterically. "I wear it all the time!"

Scorpius and I looked around hopelessly. Honestly, if you drop a tiny locket from this height, it's probably gone forever.

"There," Scorpius suddenly said, and then he was diving.

Lena and I stared, transfixed, as Scorpius hurtled towards the ground. My heart was pounding ridiculously fast. He was going to crash. Any second now he was going to hit the ground –

He suddenly changed direction and zoomed upwards. Scorpius flew over to Lena and pressed something into her hand.

"Here," he said.

Lena stared open mouthed at the locket in her hand.

"Scorpius!" I gasped. "You could be a Seeker!"

Scorpius shrugged. "I play a lot of Quidditch at home with my cousins," he said. "Sometimes I play Seeker."

This sounded so – so normal coming from Scorpius. It sounded like something I would say. I had never before pictured Scorpius playing Quidditch with his cousins, but suddenly I imagined several blonde guys zooming around over a castle.

"Let's get back to it," Scorpius said, throwing the Quaffle to me.

It was my turn. I just had to get it through this time, and then I would have hit nine out of ten. If Scorpius would just not get it through, then I would win and it would all be over.

I concentrated hard and then finally threw the Quaffle and –

Lena caught it.

Furious with myself I flew past Scorpius without even looking at him. I noticed, though, that he didn't shout anything.

Scorpius took aim and –

It sailed right through.

Eight – nine. It was over. We had each had ten shots and Scorpius had gotten he most through.

Scorpius flew back over to me and patted me on the back.

"You flew well," he said.

"Congratulations," I said, still having a hard time admitting defeat. "It was fun."

"Yeah, right," Scorpius said. "You don't think it's fun at all now that you didn't win."

I frowned at the fact that he knew this about me.

We flew down to the ground again.

"I'll see you later, Rose," he called. "I'll want to collect my winnings."

"Your – what?"

"My winnings," he smirked, and then he walked off towards his Slytherin friends. I stared after him for a few moments, and then shook my head. We hadn't talked about winnings at all!

I bet they wouldn't exist if I had won.

g


	4. In Which Demetria Tells A Secret

The next day I was in a state of shock. I sat at the breakfast table with a bleak look in my eyes. Naturally, I was still having a hard time accepting the defeat yesterday. For the first time in my life, I didn't win something that I should have won. It was infuriating! Stupid, stupid, _stupid _Scorpius Malfoy with his carelessness and his memory and his talent… He didn't even seem as ridiculously happy about the victory as I thought he would, which only infuriated me more, because he made it seem like it was nothing. AND I was just so close! I could have won but I missed that one, crucial shot.

To top all of this off, there was the nagging worry in my head that Scorpius had only chosen Lena to be our Keeper because of her impressive chest. I know that this is probably a pathetic thing to think about, but I couldn't help it. And while I was thinking about this I had to wonder why it even bothered me that Scorpius might be impressed by Lena's breasts. I mean, he's a guy; she's a curvy girl – why should I care?

After thinking about this, my mind naturally turned to the words Scorpius had said the day before: "You're pretty." I know that his whole speech had an important point, but it had become lost upon me in the midst of such words. Why would Scorpius say that? He didn't even say it as a compliment, more like a fact, as though it's common knowledge that I'm drop dead beautiful. Or pretty. I know that I'm more of a bookworm and that I don't care that much about my looks, but I would really love to live in a universe where everyone went around saying that I was pretty as though it were a fact of life.

My friends did their best to comfort me. I was surrounded by Al, Felicia and James.

"You did your best, Rosie," Al comforted. I snorted but didn't say anything. Al couldn't see, for goodness sake. He had no clue about what my best even was.

"Scorpius is really good, you know, it's hard to beat him," said Felicia. "Besides, you almost did. It was just one shot."

I finally turned my head to James, hoping for some encouraging words from him. He only shrugged hopelessly and patted me awkwardly on the back.

"Let me hex him," he said.

"No!" I exclaimed, a bit louder than was necessary. "He didn't cheat or anything. He won, fair and square. He's the best Chaser in the school."

"No," said James dully. "I am. But I don't need some stupid competition to prove it. Look, Rose, that whole competition thing was dumb. There was too much pressure and too much time to think things through. In an actual Quidditch situation everything would happen quicker and smoother and the Keeper would have other things on her mind."

"Speaking of the Keeper…" I muttered, lowering my voice. "Did you notice her…?" I gestured around my chest area with my hands.

James nodded eagerly. "Oh, yeah," he said. "No wonder Malfoy wanted her. I would have picked her too, instead of that scrawny little pimple face they have in Ravenclaw."

Great. James and Scorpius could bond over Lena's chest.

Later, during the break after Transfiguration, I pulled Felicia aside.

"I need to talk to you," I muttered.

Felicia led the way into an empty classroom. "What's up?" she asked, settling herself on a desk.

"Well, two things, actually," I said, sitting down across from her. "First, I need to ask you something."

"Fire away."

"Well, um, what does it mean if a guy tells a girl that she's pretty?" I asked. I could feel my face burning furiously. Thankfully, Felicia ignored this.

"Hmm," she said. "Is he a relative?"

"No."

"Friend?"

"Uh – not really."

"Boyfriend potential?"

"Maybe?"

"Was this said alone or around others?" Felicia asked.

"Alone," I confirmed.

"Oh, that definitely means something," Felicia said.

"Really?"

"Totally."

"What does it mean?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, it definitely means that there's something there."

"What's there?"

"You know," Felicia said, rolling her eyes as though she was dealing with a two year old. "_Feelings_."

I gaped at her.

"Who told you that you were pretty?" she asked.

"No one," I said way too quickly.

Felicia frowned. "Come on, Rose, you can tell me," she said. "I'm your best friend!"

I sighed. On one hand I could keep this to myself – it probably didn't mean that much anyway – or I could share it. It would feel so good to get some of this off my chest.

"Scorpius Malfoy," I muttered.

"No way!" Felicia cried immediately.

"Yes way," I said.

"I can't believe it!" she gasped. "Scorpius… Tell me exactly what he said!"

"He just said that the reason Demetria doesn't like me is because she's jealous," I said. "Apparently she's jealous because I'm smart and stuff… and because I'm pretty."

"What did you say?" she pressed.

I blushed furiously again. "Nothing," I lied.

"What was his facial expression?" Felicia asked, her wide blue eyes even wider than normal.

"Uh, I don't know…"

"Think!"

"Um, embarrassed?"

Felicia leaned back, clearly satisfied. "There's something there," she said confidently. "He definitely likes you a little."

"Really?"

This was news to me. I had never thought that Scorpius felt that way about me, but then again, maybe he's not the kind of guy who lets on to such things. I felt certain that Felicia knew what she was talking about; she had a lot more experience with boys than me.

"Look, there's something else," I said.

"Who else likes you?" Felicia asked teasingly. "I bet it's that Ophi, he seems to pay a lot of attention to you."

"What? No!"

"Especially considering that you're a Gryffindor," Felicia continued.

"Shut up," I snapped. "Look, I have to talk to you about Al."

"What about him?" Felicia asked.

"He – uh," I stuttered. "Do you like him?"

"He's one of my best friends, I suppose I tolerate him," Felicia said, rolling her eyes.

"No, I mean _like like _him."

"What?" Felicia gasped. "No, of course not. You know I like James."

"But Al is really…" I searched for a good word and failed miserably. "Nice."

"I know," Felicia said slowly. "He's one of my best friends."

I shrugged, giving up. Al would have to fight his own battles from now on.

**

When I went into the loo a bit later I met the one person that I didn't want to see.

"Oh, hi Demetria," I said, trying to sound casual. It was impossible to ignore her, because she was standing in front of the mirror applying mascara, and I had seen her roll her eyes when I walked in. Now, however, she completely ignored me. Although I knew that no reaction from Demetria was better than any reaction at all, I couldn't help myself from saying –

"You could at least acknowledge my presence, you know."

"Why should I?" she asked, and I was surprised that her voice shook a little. She turned away from the mirror to look at me. "Just because everyone says you're so special it doesn't mean that all of us have to drop to the floor and kiss your feet, does it?"

"I – no, of course not – and I'm not special, I just… I just pay attention in school," I said. I noticed that Demetria's eyes were slightly red rimmed.

"Demetria," I started. "Have – have you been _crying_?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped, turning away from me and hiding her face.

"Um," I said. "Are you… are you okay?"

I felt stupid trying to help this girl who not only hated me, but clearly didn't want my help. Plus, at any second she might just bite me.

"No," she said simply and sniffled. I couldn't believe that Demetria could do something as human as cry. Honestly, throughout all my years at Hogwarts, Demetria has been like something slightly unreachable and impenetrable. She has always been the one to tease me, but sometime last year she had started making it her life's mission to make my life horrible. This year, when I was made a prefect, she took it to a whole new level.

"Do you maybe want to talk about it?"

"Not with you," she muttered.

"Fine," I said, giving up and walking towards one of the stalls.

"Although you're the reason I'm so miserable," she said under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear it.

I stopped in my tracks and turned tentatively around.

"Why?"

Demetria sniffled again and turned around.

"Because somehow, throughout these past two years, you have somehow gotten everything that I don't have," she said, looking at me with something like disgust in her eyes.

"Uh, what do I have?" I asked, thinking of Demetria's brand new, height – of – fashion robes.

"You – you get really good marks," she said. "You're smart and teachers love you. They don't like me, although I study a lot. I just panic at tests and exams."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said awkwardly.

"You have a really big family," she continued as though I hadn't said anything. "You have a big family that loves you. I only have my mother, who a few years ago moved to Mexico, to be with the man she claims to be the love of her life. The Malfoys let me stay with them over the holidays, though, that was really nice of them."

I had never thought of the Malfoys as nice people, but taking in Demetria during the holidays did seem like a rather kind thing to do.

"And then you have Scorpius," she finished.

"I – what?"

"You have Scorpius," she repeated. "My best friend – the one thing that I should have, that you shouldn't have – you completely have."

This sentence made no sense whatsoever to me.

"What do you mean I _have_ Scorpius?" I asked, bewildered. "I think he's a free man, to be honest…"

Demetria rolled her eyes impatiently. "I mean, that my best friend has been hopelessly in love with you since you hexed him on the train in fourth year!"

What?

I gaped at Demetria with an open mouth for several seconds, my mind completely blank.

"But that's…"

"A year and a half ago, yeah," Demetria said, drying her eyes.

I continued to gape at her, but some parts of my mind started working again. Scorpius was always talking to me every time he saw me. He was always teasing me, trying to get me worked up… Maybe what Demetria was saying was right? Maybe Scorpius really _was_ in love with me? Demetria would know, wouldn't she? She was his best friend…

"I should go," I said, turning on my heel and walking briskly out of the loo. I started off down the corridor in the direction of the library - I had a tutoring session there - with my mind deep in thought.

Okay. So Scorpius Malfoy was in love with me. Did this really surprise me? Had I always known, just a little, that he liked me a bit? Now that I thought about it, I was the only Gryffindor girl that he had ever paid attention to; he had never given any of the others a second glance.

What about myself? Did I feel the same way about Scorpius? I had felt odd when he had said that I was pretty. I had noticed his scent for the first time yesterday. I had felt annoyed when he had picked Lena for our Keeper. What on Earth did this mean? Did this mean that I felt the same way about him as he –

I fell unceremoniously to the floor.

"You might like to watch where you're going, Weasley," Scorpius said, reaching out his hand to help me to my feet.

"Thanks," I muttered, suddenly very self conscious. Merlin, how typical that of all people I could walk into, I had to pick Scorpius Malfoy.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Oh yes," I said in an awful high pitched voice that didn't sound remotely like mine. "I was just, you know, walking… and then you were there…. Well, obviously…"

"Right," said Scorpius, raising an eyebrow. "How are you anyway? Handling the defeat well?" He smirked a little. I cursed myself for looking at his lips.

"Oh yeah," I said, still talking in the high pitched voice. "I'm fine. Great. Brilliant. How're you?"

"A little annoyed, actually," Scorpius said. "I'm looking for Demetria, but I can't find her. Was she in the loo?" he asked, nodding towards the door that I had emerged from.

"No!" I said loudly. "No. No, she wasn't."

"Right," said Scorpius. He hesitated, and then said, "I've noticed Ophi has been paying a lot of attention to you lately."

"What?" I exclaimed, startled. "Oh, he's nice."

"Hmm," said Scorpius, and he just looked at me, as though he was deep in thought.

"Yes, well," I said, trying to gather myself. "I have to go torture – I mean tutor a first year, so…"

"Tutoring is torture," Scorpius said, back to his old self and winking at me. "See you."

He strode off and I stood still for a few moments, thinking about what had just happened, before walking quickly through the corridor. When I turned around the corner I started sprinting.

**

This was a bit of a short chapter, but the next chapter will be much longer ;)

Remember to review, people, it means the world to me! 

Thanks SO much to the people who have reviewed so far, you keep me going!


	5. In Which Scorpius Collects His Winnings

The next day started in a blur. I was still semi – paralyzed by the news that, apparently, Scorpius Malfoy had been in love with me since forever (okay, since the beginning of last year) and that Demetria DuChamps had a heart. I didn't even say good morning to anyone as I sat down for breakfast. I mechanically went through the movements of buttering my toast and pouring some pumpkin juice for myself, but without thinking.

"Rose!" Felicia half shouted.

I blinked and looked up.

"I've been saying your name for the past five minutes," Felicia said, looking both concerned and agitated. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," I said. "Fine."

"So you're just going deaf, or what?"

"Maybe," I said, shrugging.

Felicia shook her head and went back to her porridge. Eurydice leaned over Jane (who was, once again, immersed in a book) to poke me on the shoulder.

"Rose," she whispered. "Do you remember the thing we talked about a couple days ago?"

I stared at her blankly. What had Eurydice and I talked about a couple days ago? My mind raced but I came up on nothing.

"You know," she pressed. "The thing about Scorpius." She pretty much mouthed the last word.

Then it all came rushing back to me. How Eurydice was hopelessly in love Scorpius and had been so since some Potions class.

"Oh," I said, my voice unusually hollow. "Right."

"Well," she breathed, lowering her voice even further. "You two have always gotten on so well. Won't you… talk to him for me? About me, I mean."

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I had no idea what I was supposed to say. How do you tell someone that you can't help them with their love life, because the object of their affections is apparently in love with, well… me? How was I supposed to say that?

"Sure," I heard myself say. "Yeah, I'll tell him during Potions today."

Eurydice's whole face lit up with glee. "Oh, thanks Rose!" she burst out, grinning from ear to ear. "You're the best!"

I smiled, but I didn't really mean it. I would have to mention Eurydice to Scorpius, now that I had promised… For some reason I felt a sudden, ugly surge of hate towards Eurydice, but then I felt bad. Eurydice couldn't know how Scorpius felt about me or how I felt about Scorpius.

But how DID I feel about Scorpius? I had no idea. Ever since Demetria let her secrets slip, I kept having these images in my mind of Scorpius and me holding hands, hugging, laughing together and… kissing. Maybe I was being ridiculous. Maybe I was going mad. The possibilities were endless, but one thing was certain: I was incredibly confused.

Later, as Felicia, Al and I were walking to Potions class, we met Ophi.

"Hey," he said enthusiastically, falling into step with us.

"Hey," I said a bit more dully.

"What's wrong?" he asked, clearly picking up on my mood.

_I might have feelings for your best friend. _

"Nothing. Just, you know, tired."

"Oh, yeah, I know all about that. It's really hard to fall asleep when you have a lot on your mind."

_You have no idea. I not only have all of Demetria's burdens on my mind, but also the knowledge that Scorpius Malfoy likes me. _

"Yeah, totally," I said absent – mindedly.

I suddenly remembered what Scorpius had said the day before – _I've noticed Ophi has been paying a lot of attention to you lately. _

Surely Scorpius wasn't jealous? No, I decided. No, he was probably just stating a fact. Ophi and I were friends, nothing more, and obviously he was paying attention to me, I mean, we were becoming friends!

We walked into the dungeon, Al and I dropping into our seats in front of – sigh – Scorpius and Demetria.

Sometimes, I wonder if fate hates me.

I turned around to catch Demetria's eye. After all, she had spilled her guts to me the day before; the least I could do was acknowledge her existence. But Demetria buried her head in her book. Instead, I caught Scorpius' eye. He winked.

My stomach did somersaults.

This was ridiculous. I turned around and faced the board again, trying to listen intently, though my mind kept wandering. I would have to be completely normal around Scorpius again. I couldn't let on to the fact that I knew about him liking me. AND what if I suddenly started acting very differently now that I knew that he had feelings for me, and he then suddenly wasn't in love with me anymore?

A new panic gripped me and twisted my insides. No, I would have to be myself, one hundred percent. I would have to act completely normally, without any differences.

Suddenly, a folded up piece of parchment landed on my desk. I unfolded it carefully, knowing full well who it was from.

**R-**

**You seemed weirder than usual yesterday. **

**Looking forward to Hogsmeade this Saturday?**

**Can't wait till Quidditch next weekend.**

**S**

I gaped at this note for a few moments, then, with a quick glance at Slughorn, I started to write back.

_Who cares if I acted strange yesterday? I was in a hurry. I know that YOU sail through life without a care, relying mainly on talent to get you through, but the rest of us actually work hard to keep our reputation. I know that you care about your reputation, although you pretend not to, but you must, just a little – _

No, I definitely couldn't write that. I quickly tore off another piece of parchment and tried again.

_Yeah, I was in a hurry yesterday. _

_Why are you talking about Hogsmeade this Saturday? Are you thinking of going with anyone in particular? Like, I don't know, ME?! You could ask me, you know, because I know your secret, Demetria told me all about it – _

NO! I started again.

_Yeah, I was in a hurry yesterday. _

_Of course I'm looking forward to Hogsmeade, I need to visit Honeydukes._

_Quidditch – DEFINITELY. I need to beat you. _

_Why are you even writing to me? _

I read the note through three times before finally throwing it over my shoulder. A few seconds later, another one landed on my desk.

**You're probably stressed; you have too much to do. Try relaxing a bit, like the rest of us. Then again, I guess that's not really in your nature. **

**Honeydukes and ZONKOS!!!!!**

**Quidditch – yeah right, keep dreaming, Weasley.**

**I'm writing to you in the attempt to start stimulating conversation. **

_I'm not stressed, I'm fine. Besides, what should I give up? I love all the things I do. _

_ZONKOS? But that's prank things! That's Jamie's favorite shop._

_YOU keep dreaming, Malfoy._

_This isn't stimulating conversation, this is rule breaking. _

"Yes, indeed, this is rule breaking," a voice said behind me. I turned around in my seat, startled. Apparently, the note that I had thrown had landed right in the hands of Professor Slughorn.

My heart sank.

"Professor…" I tried to say, but my voice died in my throat.

"Five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin," said Professor Slughorn. "And if I see any further note passing, there will be a detention tonight."

My blood turned to ice. _Detention_? I was a prefect! I couldn't get detention, this was… this was… all Scorpius' fault. Trust him to get me in trouble.

A few minutes later, though, another note landed on my desk. Fuming, I unfolded it.

**HAHA! That was funny. The look on your face when Slughorn said detention was priceless.**

**Any lack in stimulating conversation is all you. **

Infuriated, I couldn't help but write back.

_That was NOT funny. Did you know that I have never before gotten a detention? I will thank you not to get me my first. _

_I'll end this very unstimulating conversation: STOP WRITING TO ME!_

"Miss Weasley, did you not understand me?" Professor Slughorn asked, apparently having seen me throwing my last note over my shoulder. "Detention tonight, for Miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy."

I gasped. I had just landed my first detention.

"I'm especially surprised at you, Miss Weasley," Slughorn continued. "You are a prefect, after all."

I sunk low into my seat, trying to hide my burning face. I felt horrible. Slughorn was one of my favorite teachers! Thankfully, though, Scorpius didn't write to me throughout the rest of the lesson.

**

James was furious when I told him about my detention. At first, he didn't say anything. His face went sort of red and lips got thinner and thinner until they were only a line. His nostrils flared and his eyes bulged in the most alarming way, and once again, I had the thought that maybe now would be the time to get Madam Pomfrey in case they fell out. James' chest swelled and he somehow seemed to grow bigger and bigger.

Maybe he was going to explode.

I stared at him in fright. Finally, though, he opened his mouth. I was expecting a roar, but he was quiet in the most threatening way.

"We have Quidditch practice tonight," he hissed.

"I am well aware of that," I said calmly. "But I will be unable to attend due to a detention."

James seemed to swell even more. I turned around, looking for help, but everyone in the Gryffindor Common Room seemed to be backing away. I finally saw James' sister, Lily and gestured wildly for her to come help me. Reluctantly she walked over. She regarded him with apprehension.

"What do I do?" I whispered, ignoring the fact that James could probably hear me.

Lily shrugged. "Let him get it out," she said. "It's the only way. Otherwise he will carry a grudge from now until Christmas."

"YOU LANDED YOURSELF IN DETENTION WHEN YOU KNOW THAT WE HAD QUIDDITC H PRACTICE TONIGHT?" James bellowed.

Lily and I jumped back about two feet.

"DO YOU HAVE NO CONSIDERATION FOR THE TEAM?" He continued to roar. "WE HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT MATCH COMING UP, BUT CLEARLY THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU – NO, ROSIE IS FAR TOO GOOD FOR PRACTICE, SHE DOESN'T NEED IT, DOES SHE? OH, WHAT DOES SHE CARE THAT THE REST OF THE TEAM DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY WHEN THEY ARE ONE CHASER DOWN?"

"James, I didn't mean to get detention, it just happened," I said slowly. Beside me, Lily had escaped.

"_James, I didn't mean to get detention,_" James mimicked in a very high pitched voice. "EITHER YOU GET OUT OF THAT DETENTION OR I WILL… I WILL…"

He trailed off, clearly considering threats. I took advantage of his silence.

"I know that this is very frustrating for you, James," I said as calmly as I could. "But you see it wasn't really my fault. Scorpius Malfoy was sending notes to me in class and Slughorn decided to give both of us detention, for some reason…"

Okay, so this was a slight lie. But when your cousin is looking at you with bulging eyes and a red face, you would probably say just about anything to make him calm. Besides, I knew that Scorpius' name would do the trick, and I was right. James calmed at once.

"Scorpius Malfoy?" he asked. "I should've known. Of course he would get you into trouble. That little arrogant, conceited git."

I thought that this was taking it a bit far, but I decided not to say anything.

"AVRIL!" James roared.

The Gryffindor Seeker, Avril, came sprinting towards us.

"Yes, Jamie?" she asked, clearly trying to be as sweet as possible.

"You're coming with us," James said, making way for the portrait that led out of the Common Room.

"Uh," I said as Avril and I hurried after him, "where are we going?"

James pushed open the portrait and stormed off, Avril and I jogging to keep up.

"Slughorn's office," said James. "We need to convince him to let you off detention. And you, Avril, you need to do those cute little eyes, you know, the one's that get you everything you want."

Avril and I exchanged glances, both concerned about James' welfare. Perhaps this was it. Perhaps my detention was the final blow to what remained of his sanity and now it was gone. Perhaps he needed to go to St. Mungo's before he inflicted anymore emotional pain and trauma on himself or those around him (meaning mostly me). James has always been slightly arrogant, which I suppose is just a personality trait when you are:

A: Harry Potter's son

B: Unbelievably handsome (and this is from a cousin's point of view)

C: Talented on the Quidditch pitch and

D: Somehow unbelievably confident in everything he does.

But still. James' temper has long been a problem for all of us (meaning mostly me) but we've for the most part been able to deal with it. But this time, I really thought that he had finally gone mental.

James stopped in front of Slughorn's door and pounded.

"Eyes," he hissed to Avril. To me he said, "Look innocent."

Slughorn opened his door. I tried to fix my face into an expression that was half pleading, half apologetic.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley and Miss Thompson!" he said, clearly delighted at seeing us. "Would you like to come in?"

"No," James said shortly. "I'm here to negotiate the terms for Rose's detention."

"I see," Slughorn said, his eyes moving over to me. "Miss Weasley, are you in pain?"

"What?" I asked, startled. "Um, no?"

"Then why are wearing such a pained expression?" he asked.

"I – uh…" I trailed off. Clearly, mixing expressions isn't exactly my talent. I decided for a purely innocent expression. James glared at me.

"I demand that Rose's detention be postponed till – uh – tomorrow," James said, turning back to Slughorn.

"I thought that you were here to negotiate," Slughorn said kindly.

"Yes, well, now I'm demanding," James said. "We have Quidditch practice tonight, you see."

"Oh, Professor Slughorn," Avril said, and I could swear that her eyes were welling with tears. "We really need Rose on the Quidditch field tonight. Otherwise – well, otherwise I simply don't know how we'll ever win another Quidditch game."

Over – dramatic, much?

Slughorn didn't buy it.

"I'm certain that the Gryffindor Quidditch team will get on fine enough," he said. "Besides, detention is supposed to be a punishment. It's hardly a punishment if it is at a time perfect for the – uh – accused, is it?"

James attempted to glare Professor Slughorn down. When it didn't work he grabbed Avril and me and stormed off in the other direction.

"Seven O'clock in my office, Miss Weasley!" Slughorn called after me.

I waved miserably to show that I had understood.

"Pathetic, smarmy bastard," James was muttering. "I bet if precious Scorpius had asked to have his detention changed Slughorn would do it on the spot because Scorpius is a Slytherin. He just wants Slytherin to win over Gryffindor in the next match."

"James," I said reasonably. "I'm sure that Slughorn didn't mean it in that way, you know, I'm sure that…" I trailed off as James glowered at me.

"Yes," I said. "You are absolutely right. Slughorn is biased, and the goal in his life is to see the downfall of Gryffindor."

James actually looked slightly pleased.

**

At five to seven I stood outside of Slughorn's office, a million thoughts racing through my mind. First, of course, there was the matter of the detention itself. I was certain that I was the first Hogwarts prefect to ever have gotten themselves in detention. Honestly, Hogwarts prefects are picked for their rule-abiding ways, and to land yourself in detention is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to be doing. I wondered if they would take my prefect badge away. I would be the first prefect in the history of Hogwarts to have their badge taken away. I would be a disgrace to Hogwarts, to Gryffindor to my family… You know, both my parents were prefects, that's quite a lot of pressure to put on a young girl! Imagine having to live up to parents like mine. I comforted myself with the fact that Voldemort had been a prefect at Hogwarts, and look how he turned out. Honestly, compared to the horrors Voldemort caused, a bit of note passing (WHICH WAS NOT MY FAULT!) is quite innocent. ¨

The second thought on my mind was Scorpius. I would probably have to spend hours with him. I would have to do my best not to be all awkward, and think of anything else than the fact that he liked me. Having decided upon this I boldly knocked on Slughorn's door.

"Why, Miss Weasley, hello," he said in his pleasant voice. "Mr. Malfoy is already here, come in…"

I stepped into Slughorn's office and looked at Scorpius. He was actually smiling. Despite of our dire situation, of possible prefect – badge – away – taking on my part, he looked perfectly calm. Well, then again, Scorpius wasn't a prefect, so what did he have to lose?

"Well," said Slughorn, opening the door between his office and his classroom, "the class I had after yours today had a minor explosion, and I thought that this would be the perfect way for the two of you to serve your detention. You will be cleaning up this mess without magic, using the bucket with soap water, the sponges, the mops and the brooms over there."

He smiled encouragingly at us and we stepped into the classroom. Minor explosion was about the understatement of the century. The floor and walls were covered in green slime, with odd little black pointy things in it that seemed to be moving.

Slughorn smiled at the look of horror on our faces.

"Yes, well," he said. "There is quite a bit to be getting on with, so I'll leave you here. I'm off to have a cup of tea with the Headmistress, please excuse me…"

And he walked off shutting the door resolutely behind him.

Scorpius and I looked at each other in shared horror. After a few moments, however, the looking became awkward, and I felt that I had to say something.

"I'll take that end, if you take the other," I said.

Scorpius nodded his agreement and went off to the other side of the classroom, hauling the heavy bucket of water with him. We got to work and worked silently for what felt like hours, but probably wasn't more than twenty minutes. I felt awfully self conscious, though I knew that Scorpius had his back to me. I kept rearranging my hair, but it didn't help, because I felt equally ridiculous whether it was braided, hanging down, in pigtails or piled on top of my head, so I ended up just tying it into a hair ponytail and hoping that it didn't look too stupid.

"I can't stand this," Scorpius finally said. "We have to talk about something."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Uh…" said Scorpius wisely. "What's your deepest darkest secret?"

"My deepest darkest secret?" I echoed. "Scorpius, you sound like a second year."

"Well can you think of anything better?"

"No," I said truthfully.

"Fine then," he said.

I thought for a moment, then said –

"I once bewitched James' underwear to bite him in the arse."

Scorpius roared with laughter. "You did not!" he finally gasped.

"I did," I said, grinning in spite of myself.

"But I thought you disapproved of such things?"

"I do!" I exclaimed. "But he was being really horrible during one Quidditch practice, he actually made our Seeker cry, and I was just so fed up…"

Scorpius snickered. "I hadn't expected that of you, Rose," he said, with a look of real admiration on his face.

"Yes, well," I said, trying to be businesslike. "It's not something I'm proud of."

Scorpius continued to smile, though.

"What's yours?" I asked.

His smile seemed to vanish. Scorpius looked over his shoulder, as though checking that there wasn't anyone in the room who could overhear. We had both stopped cleaning now, and were sitting on the ground, facing each other. I couldn't remember when I had turned my body around towards him.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," he said darkly.

"I promise," I said.

"If you do, I'll have to flush you down the toilet."

"Flush me down the toilet?" I repeated. "How on Earth would you-"

"I don't know, I'd find a way," he interrupted. "Just don't tell anyone."

"Okay, fine," I said impatiently, now more eager than ever to hear his secret.

"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff," he whispered.

"_Really_?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, looking as though he would like to sink into the ground. "But I said no way in hell, put me in Slytherin."

"And?"

"And it said that Slytherin would suit me fine, though I was better fit for Hufflepuff," he finished.

I stared at him, open mouthed. I could not imagine Scorpius in Hufflepuff. Loyal – well, that part fit, I had never heard him say a bad word against any of his friends. But hard working?"

"Hard working?" I said out loud.

"You know, I do work hard," Scorpius said. "Just not where schoolwork is concerned. But Quidditch and things I actually care about."

"But how could you not work hard?" I asked. "You almost beat me in every test-"

"I have a really good memory," said Scorpius. "And I mean, _really_ good. I can remember almost anything if I put my mind to it."

"When was the first goblin rebellion?" I asked automatically. I decided that even Scorpius wouldn't be able to remember this, Professor Binns droning on and on in a monotone voice… Not even Scorpius would pick up on everything.

"876," said Scorpius promptly. "Lead by Umeric the Unclean and his son Hespiath the Hesitant. It ended approximately five years later, when the rebellion was squashed by the wizard knight Magnus the Magnificent, who went on to be good friends with Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts."

He stared at me defiantly, as though daring me to mock him or question him.

"Oh, Merlin," I breathed. "How many people know of your talent?"

"My best friends," he said, loosening his gaze a little. "My parents. Now you."

"It must be very convenient," I said, trying to sound casual, when I was really burning with envy. I, of course, knew about the first goblin rebellion, but I had long since forgotten the exact names and dates.

Scorpius shrugged. "I guess," he said. "But I don't really care. I mean, it helps with school work, but I don't care that much about my marks, I mean, I'm much fonder of Quidditch. I like flying."

"So I've guessed," I said, smiling a little. "You're really good, you know."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Is Rose Weasley admitting that I might be better than her?"

"Oh, shut up," I said, feeling a little grumpy. "You won our competition, fair and square, despite what James might say, and I have to admit that you fly well."

Scorpius beamed, and then became thoughtful. "You know…" he said, trailing off.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said, examining the sponge in his hand.

"It's not nothing," I pressed, slightly annoyed. "Tell me."

"Well," Scorpius said, speaking very slowly, as though he was hesitating before each word. "Do you remember how I said that I wanted to collect my winnings?"

"Yes," I said.

"Well…" he trailed off again, looking a little embarrassed.

I sighed. Fine, so he wanted something from me.

"What do you want?" I asked impatiently. "Recognition of your triumph? Do you want me to perform another biting – hex on James' underwear? I could, you know, he still hasn't found out that it was me last time, he thought it was-"

"Kiss me," Scorpius said so low that I almost couldn't hear.

"What?" I asked, certain that I had misheard.

"Kiss me," he repeated in a louder voice.

I stared at him. He couldn't be serious, could he? Then again… Demetria had said that he was in love with me…

"Oh – uh, okay…" I said, my voice suddenly much smaller than usual.

"Only if you want," Scorpius said quickly.

"No, it's fine," I said. "I don't mind."

I stood up and walked shakily towards him and finally sat down right in front of him. My mind was racing. I had never kissed anyone before! What if I did it wrong? What if my lips weren't nice? What if we somehow bumped noses or something? What if it was just one big embarrassing experience waiting to happen?

Scorpius seemed to be watching me intently. I leaned forward and tilted my head just a bit… Scorpius was coming closer… my heart was pounding, could he hear it? My stomach seemed to be twisting around inside me… he was closer… he was closing his eyes, should I do the same?

And then, suddenly, his lips touched mine, and for a few moments my mind was wiped completely blank of all my worries, and I could only focus on our lips, sealed together for a few moments.

We eventually broke apart. I could feel myself blushing furiously and Scorpius' cheeks were pink. I wondered what I was supposed to say now, but I was spared the trouble by approaching footsteps.

"Slughorn," Scorpius said simply. He pulled out his want, "_Scourgify_!"

The dungeon was instantly wiped clean a moment before Slughorn burst through the door. Scorpius quickly pocketed his wand.

"Splendid, splendid," Slughorn said, looking around the clean dungeon. "You have been quite effective, and in very short time as well… almost as though you've done it before."

He beamed at us and we smiled weakly back.

"Well, then, you're free to return to your common rooms!" Slughorn said happily, waving us out into the corridor. "I'll see you in class tomorrow!"

We got to our feet and I followed Scorpius out into the corridor. My legs were shaking quite unsteadily and my mind seemed to be stuck in some sort of daze. I followed Scorpius dumbly through the rest of the corridor, before we got to the stairs.

"Well," said Scorpius. "I have to turn left."

I nodded. "Yeah, I, uh, have to go… up." I pointed.

"I know," he said, smiling a little. "That would be logical, seeing as the Gryffindor common room is in a Tower."

"Right," I agreed. "Uh, I'll see you."

"See you," he said.

I watched him walk along the corridor before I finally shook my head and walked up the stairs. My head still seemed to be in a daze, though, because I walked right into Felicia.

"Oh, hi," she said. "I was coming to look for you. Are you all right? You're very red in the face."

"I'm fine," I mumbled.

Felicia's eyes widened. "Is it because you've realized that you like Scorpius Malfoy?"

"What?" I asked, finally coming to my senses. "Don't be ridiculous. Scorpius is nice, but he's nothing earth – shattering. Let's go."

The two of us walked up to the Tower together, talking about everything other than Scorpius.

But when I lay in bed that night my lips were burning where Scorpius had kissed me.

**

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	6. In Which Everyone Throws Food

The next morning, I had a funny light feeling in my chest. I kept thinking things like, "Twenty – four hours ago I had never been kissed," "Imagine what James would say if he knew," "Felicia still thinks I haven't had my first kiss…"

But I didn't feel the need to confide in anyone. I felt like this secret was entirely my own; I felt as though it was glowing inside of me. Every time I looked at someone else, I was put in a happy mood by thinking about the fact that something amazing had happened to me last night, and they didn't even know it yet. Even James' complaints about me not being at Quidditch just floated right over my head as I dreamily remembered telling Scorpius about the hex I had placed on James' underwear. In fact, the entire morning passed in a dreamy haze. Felicia and Al kept trying to talk to me, but eventually even they gave up. Felicia kept saying that I was in love and you know what? For once I don't think that she was wrong.

Then, something awful happened that pulled me right out of my haze.

"Have you talked to Scorpius yet?" Eurydice breathed into my ear as the Gryffdinors made our way down to the dungeons for Potions.

"Um," I replied.

"Did you say something to him yesterday?" she pressed. "I know that the two of you had detention together…"

"It didn't really come up," I lied.

Eurydice looked crestfallen and I couldn't help but feel just slightly guilty.

"Will you mention it during Potions?" she asked hopefully. I could hardly say no. I decided that I would mention it to Scorpius, but I would try to do it in a way that made it seem as though the idea of Scorpius and Eurydice together was ridiculous.

Which it was, by the way.

When I sat into my seat in Potions in front of Scorpius and Demetria, Eurydice appeared out of nowhere and shoved Al away from his usual spot next to me. She slid into the seat instead. I felt sorry for Al, who was standing there looking confused before Felicia came over to help him find a seat.

For a split second I remembered how Al liked Felicia, but the thought was wiped from my mind as Eurydice turned to me and smiled brightly.

I tried to smile back, but I think it came out as more of a grimace.

"Today," Slughorn told us, "we will be beginning work on the Strengthening Solution. This potion will need to simmer over the weekend, but if we get started now, it should be ready on Monday. The directions are on the board, and you should all have the ingredients in your supplies. You may begin."

Eurydice and I began, pulling out our cauldrons and getting to work.

"You will tell him, won't you?" she whispered anxiously again and again.

I could only say "_Yes, Eurydice_," over and over, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her. The umpteenth time this happened I accidently poured about twice the amount of salamander blood into my Strengthening Solution as I should have.

"I'll say something when it's the right time," I snapped, but Eurydice wasn't looking at me, she was looking straight ahead, into the face of none other than Scorpius Malfoy, who was grinning at us.

"Hi," I said awkwardly to Scorpius, grinning at bit.

"Hi," said Scorpius.

"Hi," said Eurydice in a very high pitched voice to Scorpius.

"Hi," said Scorpius to her, looking confused. "We're both out of pomegranate juice. Can we have some of yours?"

"Sure," Eurydice and I at the exact same time and each held out our flask of pomegranate juice.

I glowed with happiness when Scorpius took mine instead of Eurydice's. He didn't leave once he had the juice, though, a fact which no doubt made both mine and Eurydice's hearts soar.

"Are you looking forward to next Saturday?" he asked.

"What's happening next Saturday?" Eurydice asked, her eyes wide.

"Quidditch," Scorpius and I chorused. I caught his eye and I could feel myself blushing.

"Oh!" said Eurydice. "Who's playing?"

I said "Gryffindor" at the same time that Scorpius said "Slytherin."

Again we looked at each other and I felt my face burn even more. Scorpius only smiled, though.

"Do you like Quidditch then?" Eurydice asked Scorpius, clearly hoping to start a conversation with him.

"I'm Slytherin Quidditch Captain," he said blankly, looking at her as though fascinated by her ignorance.

"So you like it?" Eurydice pressed.

"No, I hate it," he said.

"But then why are you Quidditch captain?" Eurydice asked, looking confused and clearly not picking up on Scorpius' sarcasm. He caught my eye and we both grinned.

"I ask myself that question every day," Scorpius said, shrugging. "I should get back to work, though…"

He left us and was walking back to his own table when Eurydice nudged me rather painfully in the ribs. "Talk to him now!" she muttered.

I wheeled around on the spot to face him at his own table.

"Scorpius," I said, well aware that Eurydice was listening to every word. "Can I – uh – talk to you?"

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Scorpius asked, handing back my pomegranate juice.

I glanced at Demetria, but she was determinedly not looking at me.

"Yes, well," I said, feeling a little out of place. "You know my friend Eurydice?"

"The talkative buck – toothed one sitting next to you?" he asked, and I prayed that Eurydice hadn't heard that.

But on the other hand, it would be perfect if she had heard it, because maybe then she wouldn't like Scorpius so much…

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"What about her?" Scorpius asked.

"Well, uh…" I said. "She – she likes you a lot. Hopelessly in love with you."

Scorpius was staring at me blankly.

"Just so you know," I finished lamely before turning back to my own potion.

Eurydice beamed at me, and I smiled weakly back. I hoped dearly that this was enough for her, so I never had to do anything so awkward again.

**

Several hours later at lunch, I was gobbling down food. I had barely eaten at all that morning due to the dreamlike state that I had been in, so for the past hour my stomach had been growling with hunger.

Felicia watched me with an expression somewhere between disgust and fascination. "You must be hungry."

"I yam," I replied, my mouth full of food.

Shrugging, Felicia turned back to her own lunch.

"What do we have next?" she asked.

"Arnsfigurasheeon," I informed her through a mouthful of Shepherd's pie.

"Oh no," Felicia moaned, lowering her head to the table. "I forgot to practice Vanishing Spells. Damn."

A happier thought seemed to come into her mind when she lifted her head off the table, though, because she was smiling in a way that she only smiles when she knows of some particularly good gossip.

"Eurydice has been asked on a date tomorrow," she said. "In Hogsmeade."

"Really?" I said, picking up my glass and drinking pumpkin juice like my life depended on it.

"She's going with Scorpius Malfoy," Felicia said, rolling her eyes.

I spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice, spraying Felicia, Al, James and Lily.

"_What_?" I gasped amid complaints that I was disgusting and that they were now wet.

"Scorpius Malfoy asked Eurydice on a date tomorrow," Felicia said, looking disgruntled as she wiped her robes with a napkin. "And she said yes. In the future, try swallowing instead, it's much cleaner – where are you going?"

But I ignored her. I had already risen from my seat and was walking towards the Slytherin table, an odd ringing in my ears.

Scorpius had said I was pretty.

Demetria had said Scorpius was in love with me.

Scorpius had kissed me.

Scorpius had then asked Eurydice on a date the very next day.

It was clear to me now that this was a well crafted plan by Scorpius and Demetria to further humiliate me. I should have known! After all, Demetria's favorite pastime is "making Rose's life miserable." I just didn't know that Scorpius felt the same way, we had always gotten on well enough…

My heart was pounding and I could feel the anger pulsing through me. I was vaguely aware of the fact that I still had my glass of pumpkin juice in my hand. Felicia caught up to me when I was almost at the Slytherin table.

"What're you doing?" she asked. "What's gotten into you?"

"Demetria has played a trick on me," I said grimly. "And I don't find it funny at all."

"What has she-"

Felicia was silenced by a Death Glare from me. I had arrived right behind Demetria. She was sitting across from Scorpius and between two girls I didn't know that well.

I jabbed her hard on the back. Demetria immediately whirled around and glared at Felicia and me.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice cold as usual.

"Thought it would be funny, did you?" I asked, ignoring her question. "Thought it would be a nice little trick to tell me that he was in love with me, set him up to kiss me and then have him ask out someone else?"

"What're you talking about?" Demetria asked, frowning. Behind her, Scorpius was laughing at something Ophi had said. He hadn't even noticed my presence yet. This only served to make my anger grow.

"I've always known you're mean," I continued. "But I didn't know that you were a cold hearted, evil little –"

"You don't want to finish that sentence," Demetria said, her voice threatening and her eyes flashing.

"– Bitch," I finished defiantly.

"Filthy little half – blood," Demetria sneered. "Think you're so smart, do you, coming over here and accusing me of all these things? You better watch it, Weasley, or I'll hex you so hard that you'll be the first bitch in outer space."

I didn't say anything. I didn't even think. Anger was pouring through me and all I could think of was harming Demetria as much as possible – making her regret what she had said…. Regret making me like Scorpius when he had turned out be such a prick…

Before I even realized what I was doing, I had poured the contents of my glass onto Demetria's head.

First her eyes widened in shock, and then they narrowed. I heard Felicia gasp behind me. Demetria took her entire plate of pie and smashed it into my face so quickly that I didn't have time to move.

My nose throbbed painfully from the force with which I was hit, but more importantly I now had Shepherd's pie in my eyes and sticking to my cheeks in the most disgusting way.

But now, however, my anger and hatred towards Demetria had caused me to completely lose my head. Forgetting that I was against rule – breaking, forgetting that I was a prefect, forgetting that half of the Great Hall was watching by now, I wildly turned around and grabbed a bowl of tomatoes from the Ravenclaw table and threw the lot of them at Demetria. Drenched in pumpkin juice and tomato juice Demetria looked more frightening than ever. She let out a shriek of anger, grabbed and bun and hurled it at me. I managed to duck in time and the bun hit Felicia straight on the nose.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT ONE, DUCHAMPS!" Felicia bellowed and suddenly chaos ensued.

The Slytherins seemed determined to avenge Demetria; they descended upon us with all different kinds of food, hurling them at us, throwing them at us, dumping them on our heads and pouring pumpkin juice on us. Felicia and I gave up trying to defend ourselves as we were attacked with food. We crouched on the floor, clutching on to each other and screaming as loudly as we could. Thankfully, the Ravenclaws seemed to feel sorry for us, and starting pelting the Slytherins with tomatoes and pieces of Shepherd's pie.

Through the yells and screams of the Ravenclaws and Slytherins a ground shaking roar broke through, and James sprinted towards us with an entire bowl of porridge in his hands. We watched as he triumphantly emptied the entire contents of the bowl on Demetria's head. Demetria howled with rage and jumped to her feet, throwing buns at James.

"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARS!" James hollered above the noise.

The Gryffindors suddenly came sprinting, seeming determined to help the three of us. The Hufflepuffs, not wanting to be left out, hurried after.

With the other Houses also attacking Slytherin, Felicia and I were able to get on our feet and start throwing food as well.

Eventually, there was so much food flying through the air, so many people gathered together and so much yelling that no one even realized who they were throwing food at anymore. I knew that my robes were covered in Shepherd's pie, pumpkin juice, tomatoes, omelet, bacon, pieces of asparagus and cooked carrots, onion soup and even something that tasted like chocolate chip ice cream, but I didn't care.

I was constantly some place between screaming and laughing, as was everyone else. Beside me, I heard James bellow, "THIS IS FOR THE LAST QUIDDITCH MATCH!" before dumping a bowl of pasta salad on the head of one of the Ravenclaw Beaters.

This was the most fun I had had in ages, I thought, as I hurled buns after a Hufflepuff girl, who had seconds before thrown a rather large and sticky omelet in my face.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Professor McGonagall's voice boomed over the screams, shrieks and laughter in the area around the Slytherin table. Everyone fell silent at once and dropped whatever food was in their hand, as though trying to appear innocent. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" she roared, as she stormed towards us, the rest of the teachers in her wake. A few of them seemed to be on the verge of smiling, but restrained themselves.

"_Scourgify,"_ McGonagall muttered, wiping us all clean and then rounding on us again. "ALMOST THE ENTIRE SCHOOL INVOLVED IN A FOOD FIGHT – COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE – EVEN THE PREFECTS, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KNOW BETTER – YOU'RE ALL SUPPOSED TO KNOW BETTER – FAR TOO OLD FOR THIS – COULD HAVE CAUSED SERIOUS DAMAGE – WISH I COULD SUSPEND THE LOT OF YOU –"

She finally seemed to run out of things to say and instead asked, in a voice that chilled my blood: "Who started this?"

I felt as though the entire school was looking at me and I squirmed.

"Rose Weasley and Demetria DuChamps, Professor," said a small Ravenclaw boy, whom I could have strangled. Demetria looked as though she was thinking the same thing. "And Felicia Cropper."

Felicia made an indignant sound in her throat, but didn't say anything.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor and twenty – five from Slytherin!" McGonagall cried. "And now that I'm at it, ten points from _all_ the houses for inexcusable behavior!"

Everyone groaned, but no one argued. "Miss Weasley, Miss DuChamps and Miss Cropper," said McGonagall. "The three of you will be serving detentions at a later date. Miss Weasley, I am most disappointed in you, you're a prefect after all."

I hung my head, feeling slightly ashamed. But mostly I felt some sort of savage satisfaction. I know that a food fight goes against my entire personality, all my beliefs and morals about the pen being mightier than the sword – but honestly, nothing had ever made me feel so good as pouring pumpkin juice over Demetria's head.

**

After the third person had asked me why I had been so mad at Demetria, Felicia and I decided to take refuge in the library. We huddled in there and built a wall of books around our table and pretended to be studying.

"This is so unfair," Felicia muttered. "Why do we get detention? All the others joined in. We never expected it to get that far."

I merely shook my head. I was so preoccupied with thoughts of Demetria and Scorpius and how ridiculously evil they were that I was hardly listening.

"Why were you so mad at her anyway?" Felicia asked. "Aside from the fact that she's evil, of course."

I shrugged. I didn't feel like telling Felicia the exact reason why I was so mad at Demetria. It was embarrassing, after all! To think that I actually had feelings for Scorpius Malfoy… Of course I should have known never to trust anything the two of them said.

Felicia peeked over our wall. "Well, the entire Slytherin gang is here now," she said.

I looked as well. Sure enough, Demetria, Scorpius, Ophi and a few other Slytherins were sitting not so far away from us. To my horror, Eurydice was sitting behind Scorpius, looking at him like he was some sort of god.

"Damn," I muttered. "I wish that they would just go away."

But of course I had forgotten that fate hates me, because the next second Scorpius looked up, saw Felicia and me, and waved.

I fixed him with my best Death Glare. He squirmed a little bit, and looked down at his book again, but not before Ophi had caught sight of us.

"Rose!" he called and he jumped to his feet and walked over to Felicia and me.

"Hey," I said. I could be nice to Ophi; after all, _he_ hadn't been evil.

"Hey," said Ophi. "Look, Rose, I was thinking… Are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone in particular tomorrow?"

"No," I said.

"Well, uh," Ophi said, looking slightly nervous. "Would you like to go with me? Like on a date?"

I could feel my face breaking into a smile. OPHI was nice. OPHI was asking me out. OPHI hadn't been a git.

"Sure," I told him.

"Great!" said Ophi, looking relieved. "That's really… great."

Suddenly, someone far more unpleasant appeared out of nowhere next to Ophi.

"You're going to Hogsmeade together?" Scorpius asked, beaming.

Ophi and I nodded.

"Oh, brilliant," said Scorpius, still smiling so widely that he was beginning to remind me of the Cheshire Cat. "You know, Eurydice and I are going together."

I wondered if he was trying to rub it in.

"Maybe we should double – date," he suggested.

"Double – date?" I repeated dully.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, beaming at Eurydice as well as she suddenly popped up at his elbow. "I mean, we're all friends aren't we?"

Before I could say "absolutely not," Eurydice had said "Definitely!"

"We could meet up in the Three Broomsticks," Scorpius suggested.

Eurydice was beaming just like Scorpius now, and even Ophi was smiling.

OPHI, who was supposed to be on my side.

"Great," said Ophi.

"Right," I said, trying to give Scorpius the Death Glare, but he wasn't looking at me.

Perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

A double date with one of the people that I hate most.

**

This will be my last chapter for a couple of weeks. : )

I'm going on a trip, but I will be home August 10th, but then I have to start school the next day : O

But of course I will do my best to update as quickly as possible : )

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	7. In Which Rose Gets Caught

When I woke up the next morning I was happy for about three seconds. First the only thought in my mind was that the sun was shining, it was a Saturday, and I was comfortable and warm in my bed.

Then, however, a horrible memory entered my mind.

Scorpius asking Eurydice out.

The food fight in the Great Hall.

A double date with Ophi, Scorpius and Demetria.

Suddenly, my good mood evaporated. The sun suddenly seemed to be shining too brightly, my bed was so hot that I was uncomfortable, and I suddenly hated Saturdays with every fiber of my being.

Why did I agree to the stupid double date anyway? What was my problem?

Oh, yeah. I _hadn't _agreed to the double date. It had been forced upon me by evil forces. Namely, Scorpius, Eurydice and Ophi (who I really thought was on my side). But then again, Ophi and Eurydice hadn't known that they were committing grand acts of villainy when they agreed to the double date, so I suppose the only culprit here was Scorpius Malfoy. Then again, what else is new?

The worst thing was that I happened to know that the only reason that Scorpius proposed this double date was so that he could further taunt me by flaunting his relationship with Eurydice. It was not because he wanted to be with me. It was not because he wanted to try to flirt with me. It was just because he wanted me to be jealous, as a part of his great master plan with Demetria.

They were evil, the pair of them.

Normally, I didn't think of my classmates as evil wrong – doers. This was a new side to me that I had never seen before, and I blamed Scorpius for bringing it out in me.

I finally managed to get myself out of bed, take a shower and get dressed, glaring at Eurydice the whole time. As usual, I was the first one up, so at half past seven when the others started waking up, I was already fully dressed and reading a book on my bed.

Felicia rolled over in bed and yawned widely.

"'Morning," she said.

"Good morning," I told her. "It's Hogsmeade today."

"I know," she said, rubbing her eyes. "You're going with Ophi."

I nodded.

"I actually have a date too," she added.

I snapped my book shut.

"Who?" I asked.

Felicia smiled slyly as she sat up in bed. "I'm not telling," she said. "But you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Felicia walked off towards the bathroom, leaving me staring after her.

Oh, Merlin.

Al had finally gotten the guts to ask Felicia out! Felicia and Al were finally going to be a couple! And they would just be so perfect for each other…

I always knew that the two of them had something special. I really did. Well, ever since Al told me he liked her. But since then I have thought of them as a good couple. They're already friends, and I've read somewhere that the best relationships are built on friendships, so that's good. Al and Felicia are always bickering, but surely that must just be their way of flirting?

I checked myself in the mirror before going downstairs for breakfast. I was painfully aware of the fact that I would be seeing Scorpius that afternoon, and I wanted to make it look like I had made an effort for Ophi. Which I had. Right?

After breakfast Felicia mysteriously disappeared with a sly smile on her face. I couldn't wait to run into Felicia and Al in Hogsmeade.

Ophi found me at once.

"Hey," he said. He looked nervous. He kept flattening his hair and then messing it up again, as though unable to decide what looked best.

"Hey," I told him.

"You – uh – you look nice," he told me.

"You too," I said, though I honestly hadn't noticed what he was wearing.

This was unbelievably awkward. I really hoped that the rest of the day wasn't going to be like this. Ophi was sweet and this was my first date ever, I told myself. I forced myself to brighten up and make an effort. I didn't know why it was so hard, it just _was. _

Ophi and I walked around Hogsmeade for a few hours. Eventually the awkwardness went away and we were able to talk like normal friends. Ophi even stopped messing with his hair, which I thought to be an improvement.

We went into Honeydukes and filled our pockets with sweets, then Zonkos (though I, of course, didn't buy anything) and later the post office.

Ophi had laughed a lot at a biting teacup and tried to persuade me to buy one.

"No," I told him simply. "Someone could get seriously hurt."

"Oh, come on," Ophi had said, examining the biting teacup for the price. "I think it's funny."

"Well, I don't," I told him stiffly.

"Oh, uh, neither do I," Ophi said and hastily put the biting teacup back on the shelf. For some reason this annoyed me. If he liked the teacup he could have bought it! Was I really intimidating?

For some reason I pictured a larger me with fangs like Demetria's biting a very little Ophi's head off. No, I decided. I would have to try to be nicer. Ophi was clearly both nervous and sensitive. I caught myself thinking for a second of Scorpius, who would probably have bought fifty biting teacups if he had liked them.

STOP IT! Stop thinking about Scorpius when Ophi is such a nice guy!

"Isn't that your friend Felicia?" Ophi suddenly asked.

I stopped in my tracks. I realized that I had been walking along deep in thought, looking at the ground. I hastily looked up to where Ophi was looking.

"Oh – uh – yeah," I said. Felicia seemed to be standing outside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, looking as though she was waiting for someone.

"Hey Felicia!" I called.

Felicia waved us over.

"Hi," she said, beaming at us.

"How's it going?" I asked, but she never answered, because at that moment, James came bounding out of the shop, looking pleased, and suddenly stopped next to Felicia and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hey," he said casually.

I could feel my eyes bulging in a very James – like way. What was going on here?

"Um, hi," I said. "Where's Al?"

They both shrugged.

"No idea," said Felicia. And she beamed at me and then nodded towards James.

Oh. Merlin.

Felicia was not in Hogsmeade with Al. She was here with James. James, whom she had had a crush on for years. I should have known, shouldn't I? After all, Felicia had never shown any interest in Al. But then again James had never shown any interest in Felicia…

"James, have you seen the biting teacups in Zonkos?" I asked him.

"Biting teacups?" James' face lit up. "Brilliant!"

"Yeah, Ophi can show you," I told him.

"But –" Ophi started.

"We'll meet up with you guys in a moment," I said sweetly.

James nearly raced off towards Zonkos, gripping Ophi by the arm. Clearly, he had forgotten that Ophi was a Slytherin.

"Isn't it fantastic?" Felicia asked me as soon as they were out of earshot. "I'm on a date with James! Finally!"

"But – but… when did this happen?" I asked.

"A couple days ago," Felicia said, beaming. "I just confessed that I liked him (obviously I didn't say that I'd been in love with him since forever) and then he asked me out!"

"But why James?" I asked. "Of all people, why _James_?"

"Because I like him," Felicia said, as though she were speaking to a two year old. "I hope you're not mad that I didn't tell you right away, but you looked like you've had a lot on your mind this week."

"I can't believe you're going out with James," I said.

"I know, right?" Felicia said, beaming. "It's great!"

"But why can't you go out with someone else?" I asked.

Felicia suddenly frowned. "Why shouldn't I go out with James?"

"Because he's – well, he's not really your type," I said, as gently as I could. "Besides he's leaving Hogwarts next year, and sometimes he's really a pain in the-"

"Oh, I get it," Felicia said, suddenly cold. "You don't want me to go out with James. You don't think I'm good enough for him. You don't think I'm good enough for your family."

"I – what?" I said, flabbergasted.

"You've known that I liked James for ages," Felicia continued, her voice rising. "Yet you never said anything to him. You don't think that someone like me is good enough for James Potter. Especially not when you, yourself, are so damn perfect."

"Look, Felicia," I said, feeling indignant. "You can go out with anyone in my family. It's just that James is…"

"Not my type?" Felicia finished. "You probably wouldn't like me dating Hugo, either, would you?"

"Hugo?" I exclaimed. "That's disgusting, he's only thirteen."

"You see?" Felicia suddenly shouted. "I'm not good enough for anyone in your family!"

"You could date Al-"

"You know what?" Felicia said, not listening to me. "Screw you, Rose. I don't care. I'm going to go find James."

And with that she marched off towards Zonkos leaving me alone and confused.

What was Felicia's problem? If she wanted to date Al – no problem! But JAMES? James, gigantic prick of the century? James, who always bosses people around? James, who never listens to anyone else and thinks that he's the greatest? And I know that girls are supposed to like confidence in a guy, but there is such a thing as too much confidence. Actually, James has so much confidence that he hardly has anything else.

And Felicia is pretty confident too, and she doesn't like being told what to do. SEE how this relationship would never work?

Besides, Al and Felicia were totally made for each other. Although it may have taken me a long time to realize this, I think that they would be a wonderful couple. After all, they complement each other. Felicia and James… clash.

"Hey," Ophi suddenly said. I jumped about two feet into the air.

"Don't sneak up on people," I grumbled automatically.

Ophi laughed, though.

"Sorry," he said. "Want to get something to eat?"

"Sure," I said, trying to brighten up. The messed up, ridiculous, never – going – to – work James and Felicia relationship wasn't Ophi's fault, after all.

"There's this new place," Ophi said. "I think it looks good."

We stopped in front of a restaurant. I didn't even notice the name of the restaurant; I just let Ophi open the door for me as I stepped inside. Ophi found us a table right beside a window, so that we had a nice view of the street below.

"This is nice," I said, trying to be optimistic and cheery.

"Yeah," said Ophi.

The waitress handed us the menus and told us that she would be back in a moment. I opened mine and my eyes widened. The name of the restaurant was Candace's Steakhouse.

STEAKHOUSE.

I scanned the menu, words like turkey, pork, grilled chicken, beef and rib-eye popping out. I could already feel my mouth watering. Obviously, Ophi wasn't aware of my vegetarianism.

I cast a desperate glance at the soups and salads. Even THEY had meat. This was unbelievable.

I continued reading the menu card, trying to look impressed rather than desperate.

**Roasted Pork Tenderloin**

_Sliced, slow roasted pork tenderloin drizzled with a sweet glaze. Served with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. _

When was the last time I had had pork tenderloin? I couldn't even remember. Too long. I could kill for that pork tenderloin.

I tried to remind myself of all the animals who had needlessly died to serve the greedy humans of the world, but it wasn't working.

"What would you like?"

The waitress was suddenly there again, without warning. Ophi gestured towards me to begin.

"Um," I very cleverly started. "I would like the… uh … Caesar Salad."

"Right," said the waitress, making a note of this. "And would that be with grilled chicken or shrimp?"

"Uh – neither," I told her.

"Neither," she repeated blankly.

"Neither," I confirmed.

"You have come into a steakhouse to eat a Caesar Salad with no meat, whatsoever?"

"Correct," I said, wondering why she had to be so mean about it.

Thankfully she dropped it, though, because she rolled her eyes and turned to Ophi.

"The roasted pork tenderloin," he told her.

No. No, no, no, no. I wouldn't be able to stand watching him eat that gorgeous piece of, sweet yet tangy, roasted –

Piece of dead pig, I reminded myself.

"So," Ophi said as the waitress walked away.

"So," I said.

We sat there in awkward silence for several minutes.

"How're your friends?" he finally asked.

"Good," I said, ignoring the picture of James and Felicia in my mind. "Brilliant."

"Good," said Ophi.

We sat in silence for a few more moments.

"How're your friends?" I asked.

"Good," said Ophi.

"Good," I said.

Silence ensued again.

Finally, our food arrived. I sighed glumly upon receiving my Caesar salad. I couldn't help but cast longing glances at Ophi's pork tenderloin as he dug in.

"How is it?" I asked.

"Just perfect," Ophi said. "How's the salad?"

"Great," I said, though I hadn't tasted it. I had been busy mentally eating Ophi's food.

I took a bite and tried to imagine that it was some kind of meat. It didn't work. Not that the Caesar salad wasn't good or anything… it just really would have tasted better with grilled chicken.

Getting the food helped relieve the awkward silence a bit. We still had nothing o talk about, but about twenty minutes passed with the silence being filled with chewing instead.

"Isn't that Demetria?" Ophi suddenly asked.

At the sound of her name my head snapped up. "What?"

"Over there," Ophi said, nodding towards the other end of the restaurant.

Sure enough, there was Demetria, sitting with a group of Slytherin girls and eating – oh Merlin – a turkey sandwich. Even the vampire could eat meat.

"Do you want to go say hello?" Ophi asked, clearly oblivious to Demetria's hatred of me, and my hatred of her.

"You go," I said. "I don't know her that well."

Ophi shrugged and strode off towards Demetria's table. It was then that an idea occurred to me. Ophi had his back to me and he would never notice if I just took a really quick, a really, really small bite of his pork tenderloin.

No, I told myself. Not only was that against the vegetarian rules, but it's not morally right to eat other people's food. But then again…

I looked over to make sure that Ophi wasn't looking my direction. Then, quick as lightning, I reached across the table, grabbed a random piece of meat off of his plate and stuffed it in my mouth.

Merlin. It was everything that I missed about meat and more. I reached over and took another piece and another…

And then I saw Scorpius Malfoy on the other side of the window. I'm completely serious! Scorpius was standing out on the street, looking in at me stuffing my face with meat, and laughing. Really, really, out – of- control laughing.

My jaw dropped, revealing the half chewed food inside my mouth. I shut it quickly again and turned away from the window, but it was too late. I had been caught eating meat. Correction: I, a vegetarian, had been caught, by none other than _Scorpius Malfoy, _eating someone else'smeat.

Ophi chose that moment to return to our table.

"We should probably get going," he said.

"Huh?" I said, my mind still on Scorpius and the pork tenderloin.

"To the Three Broomsticks," Ophi said. "You know, we're meeting up with Scorpius and Eurydice."

"Oh," I said. "Right. That."

Ophi didn't seem to notice my gloominess, though, because he was already getting ready to pay for the check.

I hate today, I suddenly realized. I really, really, with all my guts hated that very day.

But I didn't manage to say anything, and Ophi and I headed out the door to the Double Date of Doom.

**

I cannot even BEGIN to say how sorry I am for not updating sooner! I've just been so ridiculously busy with my new school, and somehow, I just haven't had as much time as I thought I would have.

But I promise that from now on, updates will be more regular. The first few weeks of school were pretty hectic, but now I'm in a routine and it's easier to write.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who have stuck with me. It would mean the world if you would review and tell me what you think of this chapter.

And thanks so much for all the reviews that I have gotten so far. They are so important to me, and they are what keep me writing.

Thanks again : )


	8. In Which Scorpius Swears To Drunk

When Ophi and I walked through the doors to the Three Broomsticks, the first sight that met my eyes was that of Scorpius and Eurydice holding hands at a table. Something inside me boiled, but I tried to suppress it. This double date was not going to work if I throughout the entire date had alternating images in my head of pounding Scorpius' head against the table and kissing him.

"Oh, there they are," Ophi said, and led the way over to the two lovebirds.

Eurydice beamed and waved when we arrived at their table, which was ridiculous, because we were standing four feet away. But never mind that.

There were four butterbeers on the table, waiting for us.

"Hey," Scorpius said as we sat. "Did you enjoy your food?"

"Yeah, it was great," Ophi said.

"How about you, Rose?" Scorpius asked. "Did you like your _meat_?"

"I'm a vegetarian," I said coldly.

"Oh, really?" Scorpius drawled. "Well, it didn't really seem that way when-"

I kicked him under the table. Hard. Scorpius flinched, but didn't say anything.

"You're a vegetarian?" Ophi asked, looking horrified. "Oh, Merlin, Rose, I am so sorry! I wouldn't have taken you to the steakhouse if I had known."

"It's fine Ophi," I said, still glaring at Scorpius. "I should have told you. And besides, the salad was good."

Scorpius seemed to have regained his strength, because suddenly, without warning, he kicked _me_ under the table, really hard. Harder than I had kicked him.

In fact, he gave me such a jab in the leg that my leg twitched awkwardly, causing me to slide from my chair to the floor.

"Rose!" Ophi cried.

"Is she dead?" Eurydice asked shrilly.

"I'm alive," I said dully from below. From my spot on the floor I could see that Scorpius' whole body was shaking with laughter. He suddenly bent down to look at me.

"All right down there, Weasley?" he asked.

I decided not to honor him with an answer and instead clambered to my feet and back into my chair.

"Rose, what happened?" Ophi asked, looking concerned.

"Did you have a seizure?" Eurydice asked.

"No," I said.

"Did you faint?"

"No."

"Did you have a near – death experience?"

"_No,_" I snapped. "I'm fine. My leg twitched."

"Your leg twitched?" Ophi asked. "That can be dangerous. It can be a sign of a brain tumor. Maybe you should get it checked. It's easy, St. Mungo's will do it, it takes five minutes."

"Thanks Ophi," I said.

"Oh, Merlin, you have a _brain tumor_?" Eurydice asked, her eyes wide.

"No," I sighed, glancing over at Scorpius, who was silently laughing again.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to get it checked," Ophi said kindly.

"I'll do that," I said.

"Brain tumors are dangerous," Eurydice said solemnly. "My aunt died of one."

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah," Eurydice said. "The funeral was so sad. But the things everyone said was really nice."

"You know," Scorpius said, "People say such nice things at funerals that it actually makes me sad that I'll miss mine by only a couple days."

"I feel exactly the same way," Eurydice sighed. Scorpius clearly tightened his grip around her hand, which made my stomach tighten.

"I went to my great – grandmother's funeral a few months ago," Ophi said. "I brought along Scorpius, remember? You brightened me up a little."

"What can I say?" Scorpius shrugged. "I put the 'fun' in funeral."

Ophi and Eurydice laughed, I didn't. Scorpius' eyes met mine, and he smiled. The only thing I did, however, was send back a Death Glare. Scorpius quickly looked away.

"You should always go to people's funerals," Scorpius said with the air of someone sharing valuable words of wisdom. "Otherwise they won't come to yours."

"That's so clever, Scorpius," Eurydice said, looking adoringly up at him. Scorpius grinned at her and disentangled his hand from hers – only to wrap it around her shoulders. The most provoking thing about this was probably the fact that he glared at me the whole time. Glaring right back at him, I snuggled up closely to Ophi. Ophi seemed to tense by my sudden presence, but he wrapped a hesitant arm around me all the same. Scorpius' eyes narrowed and I grinned. Ha, Scorpius. Just because you can cruelly kiss me and then ask out someone else doesn't mean that you're the only one that I can be with.

"You know what I think?" Scorpius suddenly said after an awkward pause. "I think that meat is fantastic."

"I totally agree," Eurydice said automatically.

"Yeah," Ophi said. "You're really missing out on something, Rosie."

"Oh, I don't know," I said casually. "I don't miss meat that much."

"Really?" Scorpius said. "Not even pork tenderloin? Roasted pork tenderloin drizzled with a sweet glaze?"

"No," I said coldly. "I don't miss that."

"That's funny," Ophi said. "That's exactly what I had for lunch."

"Really?" Scorpius said. "And Rose, your mouth wasn't watering?"

"What my mouth does and doesn't do, Scorpius, is none of your business," I said. The only problem was that as soon as I had said this, my mind drifted towards the kiss we had shared only a few days before.

Scorpius only raised an eyebrow. "I only know that if it were me, I would just _have_ to _steal _a little piece."

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. Thankfully, at that exact moment, I was saved by Demetria. I never thought that I would be happy to see her, but at that moment, I could have kissed her.

"Oh, hey," Scorpius said. Demetria pulled up a chair and sat at our table without asking. She took a swig of Scorpius' butterbeer and sighed.

"I just escaped," she told Scorpius. "Never make me go on a date with Mortimer again. He's awful and _so _boring. And then he even expects me to kiss him! Huh! As if. I would rather bite him."

I had a spooky image in my mind of Demetria biting someone in the neck with her fangs.

"Sorry to hear that," Scorpius said lightly. "Demetria, you know Rose and Eurydice, don't you? From Gryffindor."

Demetria frowned at me. "All too well," she said.

"The pleasure is all yours," I told her in my most icy tone.

Demetria only narrowed her eyes. I saw her glance at the proximity of me and Ophi, and then she looked over at Eurydice and Scorpius.

"Hmm," she said. "I'm going to the loo for a moment. Rose, would you like to join me?"

"Me?" I asked dumbly.

"Yes, you," Demetria said impatiently. "Your mascara is running. Come on." Not letting me escape, Demetria closed her claw – like fingers around my arm and wrenched me away from Ophi. She marched me all the way to the Ladies Room, and then slammed the door shut.

"Demetria, what is going on?" I asked. I looked at myself in the mirror. "Hey, my mascara isn't running!"

Demetria wasn't listening. She was checking all the stalls, banging the doors open and looking inside.

"Why did you want me to come here when my mascara is fine?" I asked. "I don't even have to pee; really, I've barely touched my butterbeer."

Demetria finally seemed satisfied that there was no one in the room and turned to face me. "What are you doing?" she finally asked.

"Wondering why I'm in here?" I said awkwardly.

"No," Demetria said, shaking her head. "What are you doing with Ophi? Snuggling up to him like that?"

"Because he's my date," I told her.

"But you barely know him!" Demetria exclaimed. "You two have a completely platonic relationship. You're going to lose Scorpius, you know."

"Lose Scorpius?" I cried. "I never had him! I know what the two of you did! You decided to tell me that he liked me and then he kissed me. And then the next day he asked out a different girl. It was all just to mortify me and guess what – it worked. Now, if you don't mind I'd like to go back to my date."

"You've completely misunderstood everything!" Demetria said. "Look, what I told you was the truth. Why would I lie to you? You don't have anything I want."

I frowned, trying to figure out this logic.

"And the kiss you're talking about? I'll bet anything that that was real too," she continued. "The only thing that isn't real is his date with Eurydice."

"But then why did he ask her out?" I asked, desperate. "I mean, it seemed like he liked me, why would he want to go on a date with _her_?"

"I don't know," Demetria finally sighed. "Sometimes, I swear, I have no idea what goes on inside his head."

"Why do you care, anyway?" I asked.

Demetria sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. "Because, if I have to be completely honest, I would rather see him with you than that half – brain sitting next to him."

"Thanks," I said, suddenly flattered.

"Honestly," Demetria said, "I think that the only reason that he's holding hands with her and everything is to make you jealous."

She looked in the mirror one last time and ran a hand through her hair. Then she walked towards the door and opened it.

"Hey, Demetria?" I said.

She turned around.

"I'm really sorry about pouring pumpkin juice on you and starting the food fight. You obviously didn't deserve it," I said.

Demetria shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "I probably deserved it for all the shit I've said to you through the years."

I didn't say anything, but smiled at her and she smiled back. To be honest, those fangs aren't quite so intimidating when she's smiling.

"Now can we get back out there?" Demetria asked. "I don't want to have a moment with you."

"I think we just had a moment," I said, following her back to the table.

"Oh, shut up."

**

An hour later I was in the one place that I had expected never to visit in my life. I was sitting in Hogshead. It had been Demetria's idea and Scorpius had agreed. As soon as he had said yes, Eurydice thought that going to Hogshead was the most marvelous thing in the world. I had of course said no right away, but Scorpius wouldn't have that.

"Oh, right," he said. "Little do – gooders like you don't go to Hogshead."

"That's right," I said. "We don't."

"You're no fun," he said. "We all know that the reason you're not going is not because you don't think it's fun, it's because you're afraid."

And then, of course, I _had _to go, because I couldn't Scorpius have going around saying that I was a coward.

So we arrived at Hogshead and ordered a butterbeer (for me) and a firewhiskey with four glasses (for the irresponsible teenage – drinkers). And so now I was sitting in Hogshead with four people who were growing steadily more and more ridiculous, clutching my butterbeer for dear life. I didn't approve of drinking for many reasons, but the top two were probably that it's unhealthy, and you only grow more and more stupid.

"I've always thought that Professor Longbottom was sort of handsome," Eurydice said now, nodding solemnly. "Something about his eyes."

"No!" Demetria shrieked shrilly. "The only handsome teacher at Hogwarts is Professor Zabini."

"Oh, come off it," Scorpius said. "We all know that you think it's Slughorn."

Demetria smacked his arm.

"I have a brilliant idea," Scorpius said. "We should play a game."

"Ooh, yeah," Eurydice said. "What game?"

Scorpius grinned mischievously. "I never."

"Alright," Demetria said. "Are you in, Rose?"

"No, I don't think so," I said.

"Oh, come on," said Scorpius. "Don't be a bore."

"Yeah, Rose, don't be a bore," Eurydice said, which just about pushed me over the edge.

"Fine," I said. "Fine, I'm in."

"Brilliant," said Scorpius. "I never… kissed a boy."

Demetria and Eurydice immediately swallowed a mouthful of firewhiskey each.

"Oh, my God, Rose," Eurydice said. Her eyes were slightly red. "You've never kissed a boy?"

I saw that Scorpius was looking closely at me.

"Give me the firewhiskey," I whispered. At once a glass was in front of me, the amber liquid glittering in it. Taking a deep breath I raised the glass and swallowed the contents. The alcohol burned my throat and continued to burn all the way down to my stomach until it dimmed and there was just a pleasant warmth.

"There," I said.

I caught Scorpius' eye, but he quickly looked away.

"Hey, look," Ophi suddenly said. "Isn't that Mortimer and the other guys?"

"Oh, yeah," Scorpius said, and the two of them were off towards the other table, clutching their glasses and the bottle of firewhiskey and waving.

"Alright," said Eurydice. "I never… slept with a boy."

"How slept?" I asked cautiously.

Eurydice rolled her eyes. "You know," she said. "_Sex._"

Demetria raised her glass and swallowed.

"Oh, Merlin," Eurydice said. "You have? How was it? Did it hurt?"

Normally Demetria didn't talk much, but under the influence of alcohol she suddenly became remarkably chatty. I told myself not to listen to her graphic descriptions of "the first time" but I couldn't help myself, and soon I knew much more about Demetria's sexual escapades than I ever needed to.

"Has – has Scorpius ever done it?" I asked hesitantly after about half an hour.

Demetria nodded. "Twice, I think, but never with anyone he really loved," she said, and gave me a significant look.

"I can't believe how good friends the two of you are," Eurydice mused. "It's so unusual for a boy and a girl to have such a close friendship."

"And it's completely platonic," Demetria said.

"Platonic?" Eurydice asked, looking blank.

"No physical attraction," Demetria said, speaking slowly as though Eurydice was a small child.

"Really?" Eurydice exclaimed. "Never? But he's so hot!"

"Look," Demetria said. "I don't care how hot he is. When we were little he ate worms. I will _never _be attracted to him after that."

I laughed despite myself. Suddenly, Scorpius was back at our table.

"Hello, dear friends," he said loudly.

"Where's the firewhiskey?" Demetria asked.

"Gone!" Scorpius yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands. "Gone, gone, gone. Gone. Gone, gone, and gone. Gone. Gone. Gone! Gone –"

"Alright, we understand," Demetria interrupted. "Aren't you a bit drunk?"

Scorpius shook his head wildly. "I swear to drunk I'm not God!"

I couldn't help myself. I laughed. As soon as Scorpius realized what he had said he started laughing as well. And not just laughing, but really out – of – control laughing. He pounded the table and wiped tears from his eyes.

"Sh!" Demetria shushed. "Don't draw attention to us! You know what we're doing is against the rules."

Scorpius continued to laugh, but stopped abruptly when he looked at me.

"Rose, can I talk to you?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"Me?" I asked stupidly.

"No, the rose bush outside," Scorpius said, and started laughing again.

"Alright, alright," I said, desperate to stop his laughing. "I'll talk."

"Come on, then," Scorpius said. He stood up unsteadily and gripped my arm. I noticed Eurydice staring at us with a frown on her face, but it only gave me some sort of savage pleasure.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Outside," he finally said.

I lead the way outside and slammed the door to the disgusting place shut.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I need to tell you something," Scorpius said, leaning in very close to me. His breath stank and I recoiled a bit.

"What?" I asked.

"You seem angry with me," he said.

I snorted. "No, really?"

"Funny," he said dryly. "You're angry with me because I asked out Eur – Euryry –"

"Eurydice," I finished for him. "And yes, that's why I'm angry. I was confused, you know. You – you… kiss me and then you ask out her! Why?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said. "And – and the thing is that I was the confused one."

"You?" I cried, my temper rising.

"Because you told me to ask out Euryrydidice," he said very quickly. "What was I supposed to think? One day we kiss and… and everything is really nice and then the next day you tell me that she likes me! What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Oh," I said, at loss for words. "Well, well I just… I didn't mean that…"

"Well, I know that _now_," he said. "But I didn't know it then. And I've been spending all night trying to make you jealous, but I don't think it worked."

"And so now you're drunk," I said, for lack of something better.

Scorpius winked. "Only children and drunken people tell the truth," he said.

I couldn't help but smile. Suddenly Scorpius started leaning in closer. It only took me a moment to realize that he was going to kiss me. My heart started racing again and –

"Mr. Malfoy? Miss Weasley? What on Earth are you doing here? Have you been drinking?"

I turned around and saw a furious Professor McGonagall glaring at us.


	9. In Which Rose Has A Bad Day

"Professor McGonagall!" I exclaimed, barely believing my eyes.

"Professor McG!" Scorpius shouted. "How lovely to see you."

"What are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked. "I demand to know what is happening!"

"Well, Professor," I started, but I was interrupted by the potato – brain next to me.

"How simply wonderful to run into you here, Professor," Scorpius continued. "Just spiffing. Yes, quite corking to see you here in Hogsmeade. Just spliffing. Spliffifying, in fact."

"Mr. Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall cried. "What has gotten into you? Have you been drinking? And Miss Weasley! I certainly hadn't expected this of _you, _I am most disappointed."

"Oh, Rose hasn't been drinking," Scorpius said, still speaking very loudly. "No, see, she knew that I was drinking and then she came down here to… uh… save me."

"Well, at least one of you is reasonable," Professor McGonagall said. "Come along, I want both of you back in the school at once. Follow me, now."

I sighed and tugged at Scorpius' arm and he stumbled along behind me as Professor McGonagall briskly led the way up to the school.

"Thanks for lying," I whispered to him.

"No problem," Scorpius yelled. "Anytime."

"Shush!" I said.

"Mr. Malfoy, keep it down," Professor McGonagall scolded. "The sooner we get you out of harm's way, the better."

"You know something, Rose?" Scorpius shouted.

"What?" I asked, feeling my cheeks to red. My hand around his wrist tightened. I didn't know why, but I had the feeling that Scorpius was about to say something embarrassing.

"You are the queen of my heart!" Scorpius said, still speaking very loudly.

"Oh," I said, actually very flattered. "Well, thank you very much."

Thankfully, Scorpius fell quiet after that, which let me reflect over what he had just told me. I knew that he was drunk and that he probably just told me that I was queen of his heart for fun, but for some reason it still made my heart race. I secretly cursed McGonagall for popping up just as we were about to kiss.

We finally entered the school. To my surprise it was only six in the afternoon and most of the other students were coming back from Hogsmeade. I felt like much more time had passed since that morning, when I had left the school in the company of Ophi. My mind drifted back to Hogshead for a second. What would the others think? What would they think that Scorpius and I were up to? Or perhaps they had seen McGonagall?

Inside the Entrance Hall McGonagall turned to us.

"Thank you very much for your help, Miss Weasley. It is much appreciated in the face of such stupidity." With those words she gave Scorpius a Death Glare that was even more powerful than mine. "You may return to your dormitory, Miss Weasley. Mr. Malfoy, you will accompany me. This is a most serious offence."

"Alright," Scorpius said, and turned to leave. Suddenly, though, he swiveled around on his heel. "Rose!" he called.

"What?" I asked, stopping in my tracks, almost afraid of what he might say now.

"I have to tell you something," he said.

"_What_?"

"It's a secret," Scorpius said, nodding solemnly. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly and tapped her foot on the floor. Scorpius ignored her.

"_What is it?_" I snapped.

Scorpius gave Professor McGonagall a suspicious glance and then looked around to see if anyone else was in the Entrance Hall. Finally, he whispered in a barely audible whisper –

"I'm Batman."

**

The next day I didn't see Scorpius at all. I began to wonder if Professor McGonagall had locked him into a dungeon as punishment. Throughout that long gloomy Sunday I began to wish that I would see him, just to get me out of my loneliness. Hanging out with a moody Al is only fun for so long. I also desperately wanted to ask Scorpius how he knew what Batman was. I hadn't been under the impression that the Malfoys let their children read Muggle comics.

I tried to speak to Felicia that morning after breakfast. She had ignored me from the minute we had gotten out of bed till she had finished her eggs, so I decided that it was time to do something about it. I caught up with her just as she was leaving the Great Hall.

"Felicia, wait!" I called.

She turned around for a second, and, seeing that it was me, turned on her heel and walked briskly off.

"Felicia!" I called after her. "Look, it's sunny out, and I was thinking of going outside and get some sun-"

"Why would you do that?" she asked, stopping so abruptly that I almost walked into her. "You're still a little pink since you got sunburned a week ago."

"Look, I just want to talk," I told her.

"Oh, yeah?" Felicia said. "About what?"

"About the fact that you're apparently dating my cousin!"

"What's your problem?" Felicia asked. "We already talked about this yesterday. I clearly remember that you didn't think that I was good enough to be dating someone from your family."

"I never said that!" I exclaimed.

"You might as well have!" Felicia shouted, causing everyone else in hearing range to turn around and stare at us. "You don't want me to date James; you don't want me to date Hugo…"

"But that's not because they're in my family!" I exclaimed. "It's just because of who they are. I mean, come on, _James?" _

"You know that I've liked him for ages!"

"Yeah, but I never thought anything would happen…"

"So that's why you never helped me!" Felicia yelled, red with fury. "I asked you a million times to _please_ say something to him, to talk to him for me, to mention me…. And you never did! Now I know why."

"Look, it's not because you're not good enough," I said, trying to be calm. "It's because I just don't see James and you making a good couple. Felicia, James is a jerk, James doesn't understand girls. He'll be with one girl one day and another one the next day. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"So you don't think that I mean anything to him?" Felicia asked. "You think that he doesn't care about me, so he'll cheat on me with the next pretty girl that he sees?"

"That's not what I meant," I said.

"Forget it, Rose," Felicia said. "Just forget it."

With those words Felicia turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd of people leaving the Great Hall.

Felicia and I had never had a real fight before. Sure, we'd had little arguments, tiny disagreements, but we'd never fought like this. I didn't know if I was angry at her, or felt bad about the fact that she was angry at me. Probably a little bit of both. I felt a lump rising in my throat and I dashed off towards the library. At least here no one would bother me.

Or so I thought.

Just as I was burying my head in a nice book, ready to forget about everything else, someone interrupted me.

"I heard that your friend was pretty mad at you."

I raised my head. Standing in front of me was Demetria, holding a couple of books in her hands.

"Hey," I said. "How'd you hear that?"

"Who didn't?" Demetria asked, dumping her books on the table and taking a seat across from me. "The two of you made a little racket outside of the Great Hall after breakfast."

"Merlin, how embarrassing," I muttered, shutting my book.

"Don't worry about it," Demetria said. "Everyone's probably forgotten about it now. No one cares that much about your petty little dramas."

"Thanks," I said dryly.

"Anyway," Demetria continued. "I came to ask where you and Scorpius went last night."

"Outside," I said. "And then Professor McGonagall saw us."

"She did not," Demetria breathed, her eyes widening in shock.

"She did," I confirmed. "And saw Scorpius' drunkenness."

"What did he do?" Demetria asked.

"Shouted a lot," I said. "Told me that he was Batman."

"He told you that he was _Batman_?" Demetria asked, smiling widely.

"Yeah," I said. "How does he know who Batman is?"

"Scorpius has a thing for Muggle comics," Demetria said. "Always has. He used to smuggle them into Malfoy Manor when he was younger. He tried to get me hooked on them as well, but it never worked."

"I thought Malfoys hated everything made by Muggles," I said.

Demetria shook her head. "Not Scorpius. I wouldn't say that he _likes _Muggles, but he doesn't have anything against them. He definitely likes their superheroes. And Batman is his favorite. Ask him about it someday, he'd love to give you an hour long lecture about it."

"I think I might," I said.

Demetria rolled her eyes and opened one of her books. I was about to go back to my own when a thought occurred to me.

"How are you and Scorpius so good friends?" I asked.

"Our parents are friends," Demetria said. "So we grew up together. We started Hogwarts together and got sorted into the same House…. I guess that we've just stuck together ever since. Kind of like you and your cousin, Al."

"Do you ever get into fights?" I asked.

"All the time," Demetria said. "Sometimes, I really think that Scorpius should get a shovel and dig himself into a hole. Like today. I went up to see him and he threw a pillow at me."

"Why would he do that?" I asked, bewildered.

Demetria looked at me as though I was stupid. "Hangover, Weasley. Merlin, I don't know if it's cute or ridiculous that you're so innocent and naïve. Maybe that's what Scorpius likes about you."

I felt myself blush bright red and turned back to my book. Demetria didn't say anything, but I saw her smirking, which infuriated me just a little.

Later, I found Al and dragged him outside, because obviously Felicia didn't want to join me. Al had been sad ever since that morning, when I had told him over breakfast that I had seen Felicia on a date with James in Hogsmeade.

"I'm pathetic," Al said, lying on the grass. "Only a loser is in love with a girl that his brother is dating."

"You are not pathetic," I told him. "And nor are you a loser. You're just… unlucky."

"I'm not unlucky," Al said. "Unlucky would have been me never meeting Felicia. I'm a _loser. _I never even asked her on a date. I never even told her that I liked her. She has every right to go out with and James – damn him – has every right to go out with her."

"Look, Al, he's just going out with her because she's drop dead gorgeous," I said.

"She might be drop dead gorgeous, I wouldn't know," Al said gloomily.

"Don't be upset about your blindness too," I said, exasperated. "Look, I'm not having the best day either, okay? I was on a date yesterday with a guy I don't even like, the guy I _do _like is hiding in his dormitory because of a hangover, _and _my best friend hates me. Now you're suffering from self – esteem issues. This is the worst Sunday of fifth year so far."

"Who's the guy you like?" Al asked, completely ignoring all of my other sufferings.

"That doesn't matter," I said.

"The guy you like has a _hangover_?" Al continued. "I thought that you were against drinking."

"I am."

"But who on Earth could that be?" Al asked, more to himself than me.

"Forget it," I said. "The chances of it actually happening are not that big."

"But does he like you?" Al asked.

"I'm pretty sure," I said, glad that Al couldn't see how red my face was.

"Then something probably will happen," he said.

"Yeah, but we're so different," I said. "I don't know. Mum and dad and your parents probably wouldn't like him."

With those words something dawned on me. Something that I hadn't thought about before. How _could _Scorpius and I ever be together when our parents would hate each other? I know that it's very romantic with the whole forbidden love concept, but my family was such a huge part of who I was. How could I go against them and everything they stood for?

**

I spoke to James after dinner in the Common Room.

"Why are you going out with Felicia?" I asked, not bothering to be polite.

"Because she's hot," James said, not even looking up from his Quidditch magazine.

"That's it?" I asked.

"Sometimes she's sort of funny," James said.

"She's practically in love with you," I told him.

James finally looked up from his magazine.

"Seriously?" he asked.

I nodded. "For a really long time."

James frowned. "Weird," he said. "Hey, Magnus!" he called to a muscular guy at the other end of the Common Room. "Come look at this new broom!"

I knew I wasn't going to get anymore out of him so I gave up and went to bed. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and when I finally did I had dreams of Batman saving me from Felicia trying to put fire to my hair.

**

The next day I ended up sitting next to an unusual person at lunch. Al was still gloomy and had stopped coming to the Great Hall because seeing Felicia with James made him feel even more like a loser and he was therefore taking his meals in the school kitchen. Felicia still hated me and was sitting at the other end of the table, next to James, who seemed to be following Felicia wherever she went. So the seat next to me that was usually occupied by Felicia, James or Al, was suddenly occupied by Eurydice.

As soon as she sat down next to me she gave a great sigh that clearly meant that I was supposed to ask her if something was wrong. I didn't want to take the bait though, so I desperately turned to Jane.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a novel," Jane said, looking up from her book. "It's about this sixteen year old witch who's really talented, but she lives with these evil Muggles who won't let her go to Hogwarts."

"Exciting," I said absent mindedly as Eurydice sighed again.

"So then she meets this really cute wizard boy who helps her escape and wants to take her to Hogwarts and then they fall in love, but then this evil wizard comes-"

Eurydice sighed again.

"- and they have a duel, and the evil wizard kidnaps the witch and, well, that's as far as I've gotten."

Eurydice sighed very audibly.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked.

She looked at me with mournful eyes. "I won't be going on anymore dates with Scorpius," she said.

"Why not?" I asked. My heart was beginning to race.

"I ran into him this morning and told him that I had a good time Saturday," Eurydice said. "Then he told me that he had had a good time too, but that he thought that we would be better off as friends. He said that he liked someone else."

"He did?" I gasped.

"Yeah," Eurydice said, nodding solemnly. "I don't know what to do, Rose, I'm so broken hearted. I wonder who that other girl is."

"Me too," I lied, pretty sure that I knew just who she was.

"I'll rip her throat out when I find out," Eurydice said.

"You will?" I asked, appalled.

"Absolutely," Eurydice assured. "Especially if it's someone I know. What a bitch. I bet it's Demetria."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Eurydice said. "It's just so unnatural that a guy and a girl can hang out together all the time without any feelings involved."

I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing there," I said. I glanced over at the Slytherin table. Scorpius was having a conversation with someone from the Quidditch team. It was the first time that I had seen him since Saturday night. I suddenly felt very warm.

"So, have you seen Ophi since Saturday?" Eurydice asked.

"Uh – no," I said. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about Ophi, which wasn't all that nice of me. "I haven't been able to find him."

"Too bad," Eurydice said. "After you left, Ophi said that he really likes you."

My stomach twisted. "He did?"

"Yeah," Eurydice said. "That's so romantic. I'm actually a little jealous. I'll never find true love." She sighed heavily. "Scorpius has broken my heart."

At the Slytherin table I saw Scorpius get up to leave. I jumped out of my seat.

"I have to go," I told Eurydice. "I have to - uh – look something up before Transfiguration."

"We just had Transfiguration," Eurydice said.

"So it's all the more important!" I cried. "Professor McGonagall said something in class that I didn't quite understand and if I don't look it up now I'll forget about it… so… uh… right. Bye!"

I darted out of the Great Hall after Scorpius. I finally caught up with him in a deserted corridor.

"Hey, Scorpius – Batman!" I called.

Scorpius turned around and smiled. "Very funny," he said.

"So you do remember something from Saturday night?" I teased.

"I remember _everything_ from Saturday night," Scorpius said.

I couldn't look him in the eye and examined my shoes instead.

"I had a good time," I said awkwardly.

"Me too," Scorpius said. "Even though McGonagall gave me detention."

"Uh – I just talked to Eurydice," I said, finally gathering the courage to look up again. "She said that she was heartbroken, because you liked someone else."

Scorpius shrugged. "She'll get over it."

"Who is that someone else?" I blurted out.

Scorpius blinked. "You, of course," he said bluntly.

I suddenly found myself grinning widely.

"Really?"

"Of course," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "Do you really mean to tell me that you are so insecure that after everything I told you Saturday you _still_ think that I don't have any feelings for you?"

"Well, you were drunk," I said. "I didn't know if you were telling the truth or just joking."

"I was telling the truth," Scorpius said.

There was a pause in which we just looked at each other. I took in everything about him. The platinum blonde uncombed hair, the green eyes, examining my face… the lips…

Scorpius took two steps forward, closing the distance between us. "Rose…" he breathed.

"Yeah?" I whispered, looking up, my heart hammering. I wondered if he could hear it.

"I was really disappointed with McGonagall interrupted us the other night," he said.

I smiled a little, and then Scorpius leaned in – I could feel his breath on my face – his hand was suddenly on my waist –

"ROSE!"

I jumped about a foot into the air, bonking my nose into Scorpius'.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?" James roared.

I turned to look at him, my nose throbbing. I had actual tears in my eyes from the searing pain. James was slightly blurred. Behind me I could hear Scorpius muttering to himself about the pain.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" James yelled. "HE IS CAPTAIN OF THE SLYTHERIN TEAM AND YOU ARE KISSING HIM! _KISSING HIM_!"

"I – well, I wasn't exactly…" I trailed off, rubbing my nose. The pain was unbelievable.

"YOU HAVE BETRAYED US!" James bellowed, storming forward to point a finger into my face. "_Unbelievable!"_ he hissed.

"James, be reasonable," I said.

"What's the matter, Potter?" Scorpius asked. "Got a problem with me?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," James said, pushing me aside and giving Scorpius a shove. "Don't kiss my cousin."

Scorpius shoved James back. "I'll kiss her if I want."

"Guys!" I cried, horrified. What if they were going to fight? "Stop it!"

James turned to look at me, his eyes bulging and his nostrils flaring.

"If you want to be with this piece of dust, you can't be on the Quidditch team," James said.

"_What?"_ I gasped.

"You can't be on the Quidditch team," James repeated. "_And _I'll write to Uncle Ron."

"That's not fair!" I exclaimed.

"What's not fair, Rose, is betraying your family!" James cried. "What's not fair is going behind my back to kiss the one person that I hate the most. We're more than just cousins, Rose; I thought that we were friends."

"We _are_," I said desperately.

James didn't say anything. He only stood beside Scorpius with his arms crossed. I looked between the two of them desperately. I really liked Scorpius, but I couldn't stand the thought of one more of my friends hating me. And what about the rest of the Quidditch team? And the rest of my family? I could feel that I was about to cry again.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Scorpius. Then I turned on my heel and ran away.

**

Thanks so much for reading! And thanks to my faithful reviewers for reviewing. It means the world to me and it keeps me writing. =) PLEASE tell me what you think about the chapter!


	10. In Which Scorpius Is Valiant

The next morning, I was hated by pretty much everyone that once had liked me. When I came to the Gryffindor table, Felicia pointedly looked the other way, James gave me a creepily accurate imitation of my very own Death Glare, and even Al seemed irritated with me.

I decided that I didn't want to be bothered by any of them and their bad moods and looked around at the food in front of me. Sausages and bacon. The toast was sitting in front of James. I mustered up the courage to ask him for it.

"James –"

"I'm sorry, I don't talk to traitors," James said loudly.

Sighing, I realized that this would have to be a morning without breakfast. Sour cousins and silent best friends wouldn't keep me from my oath as a vegetarian. I looked around the Great Hall, wondering where I might find a friendly face. There was none. I caught Scorpius' eye over at the Slytherin table. I wanted to give him a sort of shy smile, but he only looked away quickly again. Great, I thought.

Reaching some sort of resolution, I piled several sausages and strips of bacon onto my plate, and poured ketchup over the whole lot. I took a bite of a sausage.

_Heaven._

I really had been missing out on something! As if I didn't know. I had to be the worst vegetarian ever – bringing shame to other vegetarians, and death to innocent animals. The worst part was that I had trouble really caring. Everyone seemed to hate me. Somehow, I had an easier time dealing with the hate of James and Felicia – I was used to James being a hysterical prick and Felicia – well, we were best friends, and she had to come around, right? But as for Scorpius… I really couldn't see any way out of that one. He hated me. And I could even understand why.

The morning post arrived, with a school owl bringing identical notes to me and Felicia – I only knew this because the owl delivered a note to each of us. Mine said:

_You will be serving your detention tonight at nine. You are to come to the Entrance Hall. Bring your cloak and wand. _

_Professor M. McGonagall_

At this point I realized that my life couldn't get any worse. I must have been the only prefect in the history of Hogwarts to serve two detentions within two weeks. I was also bringing shame over the school, now. I wondered if I should just quit everything and go home.

As the clock was about five to nine, and everyone got up to go to class, I was only halfway through my meat heavy breakfast. "Rose, are you coming?" Al asked.

"No," I said simply. "I am going to sit here and finish my breakfast."

"You'll be late for Transfiguration," he told me.

"I don't care," I said, and to my own disbelief, I didn't.

The entire Great Hall cleared out, and I continued to sit and eat. Scorpius looked at me curiously as he left the Great Hall at five past nine (late to class, as usual). He lingered a bit, but then turned around and left, leaving me all alone.

I swallowed my mouth full of bacon and then I burst into tears.

That night at five minutes to nine, I stood in the Entrance Hall, shifting my feet nervously. I wasn't expecting this to be pleasant at all. How could it be, when I would be serving detention with my apparently un – best friend? Felicia hadn't even showed up yet. I wondered if maybe she wasn't coming. Maybe she had requested to have her detention another day, just to avoid me. I was wrong, though, because just as the thought had popped into my head, Felicia came down the staircase and stood silently as far away from me as possible. She didn't say hello.

I was just wondering how I would deal with this night, when I heard to voices emerging from the stairs leading up from the dungeons.

I looked around. Oh, Merlin. Scorpius and Demetria were entering the Hall, and were walking straight towards me. Scorpius looked surprised at seeing me.

"Oh," said Demetria. "Are you serving detention tonight, too?"

"Yes," I said.

"Why are _you_ here?" Felicia asked Scorpius.

"I have detention, too," Scorpius said.

I had forgotten. In the midst of my own immensely growing misery, I had, of course, forgotten that Scorpius had gotten detention for getting drunk in Hogsmeade and calling himself Batman. I felt weird when I remembered that that had happened only two nights ago.

Once the clock struck nine, Slughorn entered the hall, also coming from the staircase to the dungeons.

"Lovely to see that you are all here," he said brightly, beaming at us all, as though having detention was a special treat. I was beginning to think that this detention would be some kind of perverse torture, given to me by fate for being… me.

"As it is, my Seventh Years will be making a potion soon, called the Draught of Blooddrinkers – very interesting potion, still quite experimental, it is supposed to turn a vampire into a vegan – should be quite fun to do – but, yes, it happens that one of the key ingredients in this potion is Vampire Berries, a sort of red berry that grows wild in the forest. It tastes like blood and is therefore often eaten by vampires when there is a lack of living beings for them to attack – and happens to grow in the Forbidden Forest!" Slughorn finished this and beamed at us all.

"You're joking," Demetria said in a shrill voice. "You want us to go into the Forbidden Forest? We could – we could _die_."

"Nonsense!" said Slughorn happily. "If you find yourself in any danger, send up red sparks, I'll be watching from the lawn – I'm going to start a bonfire, should be quite cozy –"

"What if there are werewolves?" Demetria asked, looking a little hysterical. "Or vampires?"

I thought that Demetria, of all people, should not be nervous in the least about vampires. If she met one, she could simply bare her own fangs at it, and it would run screaming the other way. I supposed that Demetria perhaps did not know how frightening her pointed teeth really were. This actually made me feel slightly sorry for her. After all, if Demetria herself didn't know how frightening her teeth were, and no one had ever been kind enough to tell her, well then she obviously never had the chance to get her teeth changed. I always thought that Demetria prided herself on her fangs – sorry, teeth – but now I thought differently. I realized that I had been daydreaming a little and hadn't heard Slughorn's long lecture on why the forest ought to be safe enough.

The four of us walked slowly and reluctantly towards the edge of the forest. The path was only wide enough for two to walk on, and as neither Scorpius nor Felicia seemed interested in walking next to me, Demetria took on that burden.

After walking in silence for a while, I attempted to make small talk, in order to distract myself from the obvious way in which Scorpius was repulsed by me. It made me hate myself and hate him at the same time – couldn't he see that it wasn't my fault? Couldn't he see that no matter how one looked at it, I couldn't be with him in that way, when my whole family – or at least James, who sometimes seemed to have the ego of the entire family – was so against it? Most of all, I realized, I hated James, for making this so difficult. I decided that Felicia could have James all to herself, and the two of them could run off and have disgusting children with bulging eyes and huge tempers. I fantasized about poking James' eyes out with his own broomstick. Then I decided that that was a disgusting and creepy thought to have, and was a clear sign of my being deranged and sick, and no wonder no one wanted to talk to me, and said to Demetria:

"Full moon tonight."

"Oh, don't say that," she squealed in a very pathetic voice that didn't really suit her at all. "That just means that there might be werewolves."

"We found some!" Scorpius called back to us. I hadn't realized how far we were into the forest until just then. All around me I could only see trees – when I looked behind me the path winded so much that I couldn't see the lawn beyond the forest anymore. I couldn't help but shudder, which made me feel just as squirmy and pathetic as Demetria.

"Great," Demetria replied. We caught up with Scorpius and Felicia, both of whom pretended that I was some sort of gnarled, insignificant tree root, far beneath their superior notice. I decided to pretend that I was a tree root, by keeping quiet and out of the way. Felicia and Demetria stuffed their pockets with the berries, and upon deciding that that was enough, we all turned back and rambled off towards the castle. I kept staring at the back of Scorpius' head, wondering what was going on in there. I hoped just a little that he was thinking about me. Maybe he was regretting the fact that he had ignored me all day so far. But then again, maybe he was thinking that I deserved it.

In this depressing, very gloomy way, I was walking along, looking at my feet and being swallowed up by my own huge amounts of misery. That's why I was was all surprised when Felicia screamed in front of us. I whipped my head up, hitting Demetria in the face with my ponytail.

"Keep the carrot under control," Demetria grumbled, but I barely heard her. I was looking at the thing that had made Felicia scream. Scorpius stood in front of me, looking frozen.

It was a werewolf.

I had never seen a werewolf before (unless you count Uncle Bill, but he doesn't really count, seeing as he's only like a half – werewolf. He's more like a werepuppy) so my jaw dropped, like I was going to scream, but no sound came out.

The werewolf looked just about as shocked to see us as we were to see it. At first the four of us stared at it. It's eyes were wide and yellow, it's fur was brown, tufts of it sticking out. There were leaves caught in its tail. And then – it bared its fangs. They were long, tinted with yellow at the tip.

A horrible growl ripped from its throat, sending chills down my spine. Then, we all screamed simultaneously. I turned around and ran back the way that we had come from. I didn't realize where we were running, only that we weren't running fast enough, I could still here the werewolf growling and barking a little behind us.

"Go faster, weasel girl!" Demetria shrieked at me tugging my arm along with her.

"Vampire!" I shouted back automatically as a retort, not really thinking that that was the weirdest thing to yell at a person.

Scorpius had almost outstripped us all on his longer legs. There werewolf was falling farther and farther behind, its growls becoming a little fainter. I wondered if it had given up. Then I tripped over an actual tree root on the ground. At first I hadn't really realized what had happened – that I was lying on the ground while being chased by a werewolf who clearly was up for a snack. Then, I tried to scramble to my feet, but realized – too late, for the werewolf was catching up – that my robes were caught on a branch. I tugged on them, but nothing happened – I could now hear the werewolf's feet hitting the ground behind me.

Then someone yelled "Rose!" and someone skidded to a stop in front of me, held out a hand and yanked me to my feet, ripping my robes. It was Scorpius.

"What the hell are you doing, you klutz?" he almost shouted at me.

"Sunbathing, what do you think?" I yelled back, a ringing sound in my ears. The words were barely out of my mouth before he had shoved me onto the ground off the path. Scorpius then threw himself onto me, knocking the wind out of me. I was about to complain about this slightly uncomfortable predicament (and then again, I didn't really mind being that close to him) when Scorpius but a hand over my mouth to silence me.

It only took me a few seconds to find out why. The werewolf had given up chasing the others and was now sniffing the area dangerously close to our hiding place. Scorpius took out his wand and pointed it towards where the werewolf sounded like it was.

Suddenly, the werewolf stopped, and poked its head around a tree and spotted us. I could swear it almost smiled with those awful fangs before it leaped at us. Scorpius grabbed me and rolled, causing the werewolf to miss us by inches.

"_Stupefy!"_ he shouted, casting a jet of red light towards the werewolf. The spell missed, but the red light distracted the werewolf long enough for the two of us to crawl behind another tree.

"I can't believe this is happening," I whispered. "I can't _believe_ this is happening."

Scorpius grabbed my hand and held it tightly. It hurt, but I was glad he did it. It made me feel less scared. At that moment, however, the werewolf seemed to have found us again. Scorpius and I jumped to our feet and began to run, just in any random direction. I didn't even know where we were – it definitely wasn't the path, we were crashing through bushes, getting ripped on branches. There werewolf was frighteningly close to us. I pulled my wand out of my robes and pointed it over my shoulder without looking and shouted: "_Impedimenta!"_

The sounds of the approaching werewolf stopped. Scorpius and I slowed to a stop and looked over our shoulders. The werewolf was struggling, as though it had been stopped by some kind of barrier.

"Nice going," Scorpius said, sounding out of breath.

"Thanks," I said weakly in return. "We'd better get out of here, quick, before the spell wears off."

Scorpius grabbed my hand and we started racing forwards again. "Where are we going?" I asked him, while struggling for breath.

"Anyway that leads us out!"

We ran for what felt like hours to get as far away from the werewolf as possible. Finally, we could see light and, eventually, the Hogwarts Castle ahead. We stopped, panting and resting our hands on our knees. I collapsed to the ground, and held my head in my hands, trying to catch my breath. Scorpius, also sounding exhausted sat down next to me.

We sat in silence for a while, trying to breathe normally again. My heart was still pounding wildly. Scorpius turned to me. I liked how his cheeks were all pink from the exercise.

"Do you need anything?" he asked me. "Like, water or something?"

"Honestly," I said, "after that I think that I'll need mouth – to – mouth, but –"

Scorpius then covered my lips with his own. I jumped a little with shock, but that didn't stop him. I had hardly registered the kiss when he pulled away again.

He smirked at my shocked expression.

"You know," I said, trying to arrange my features into something more dignified. "I didn't mean it literally."

"You were practically begging for it," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "Mouth – to – mouth, honestly… Anyway, after such a huge wild adventure together, you would think that we were allowed a moment? Or is that forbidden for cousin James as well?"

"Shut up," I mumbled, looking down.

"No, I'm just asking," said Scorpius. "Can I talk to you and stuff?"

"I don't know, okay?" I said, a little louder than I intended. "I don't know what's going on."

Scorpius didn't say anything to that, and I almost felt bad for scolding him.

"Thanks for saving my life," I told him finally. "I owe you."

"I didn't save your life," Scorpius scoffed, in a tone that clearly said that he was still irritated with me. "You were the one who cast the spell that stopped it."

"So?" I asked. "You came back for me. And I thought you hated me. So thanks."

"I don't hate you," Scorpius said. "I lo-"

"There they are!" I heard Demetria shout, and looking up I saw her and Felicia run towards us, with the fat little figure of Slughorn following them.

Wanting to make the moment last a little longer I said, "You what, Scorpius, what were you going to say?"

"Nothing," Scorpius said, shaking his head and getting to his feet.

"No, really," I pressed, feeling desperate and pathetic.

"Oh Merlin!" Felicia shrieked and threw her arms around me as they reached us. "Merlin, Rose, I really, really thought that you were dead!"

I was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "I'm not," I told her.

"And then I thought that what if you died and we were in a stupid fight?" Felicia continued, sounding like she was about to cry.

"It's okay," I told her, trying to sound soothing. "It's okay."

Once Felicia and I were done embracing, Scorpius and Demetria were only two shadows on their way up to the castle again.

A little later in my bed, my mind was racing over the evening. Scorpius had come back for me. Scorpius didn't hate me. In fact he – I didn't know. What had he been about to say? Could it have been "love"? Was he about to tell me that he loved me?

Feeling less miserable than that morning, but a whole lot more confused, I closed my eyes and pulled the covers over my head.


	11. In Which Felicia Has a Bad Idea

When I woke up the next morning, all the events of the previous night came flooding back into my head, making me curl my toes. Seriously. I was attacked by a werewolf, rescued by Scorpius, and then Felicia came along and wanted everything to be back to normal again! I couldn't decide if the night had been wonderful or terrible.

And then I remembered the weird, half word that Scorpius had said.

"_I don't hate you, I lo-"_

Lo – what? Somewhere inside of me, I really wanted the word to be "love." What else could it be? I tried to rack my brains. Loathe? No, that made no sense; he had just said that he didn't hate me. I racked my brains for every word I knew that started with LO. Lobster, loft, log, locomotive… no, he probably didn't even know what that was. Longitude, lonely, loony – no, hopefully not that, logic, loins – oh, Merlin, I didn't need to be thinking about Scorpius' _loins_. Lock? Look? Did he mean, "I look at you?" No, that part was obvious, he had been looking me right in the eyes when he said it.

I gave up the search for the magic word and went downstairs to breakfast. I sat opposite Felicia, who smiled at me. This was a nice change. Next to her, James was shoveling food in his mouth. I watched in disgust, wondering how none of that food ever fell out of his mouth again. I tried to look the other way, but at that moment he spoke, spraying the table with eggs and sausages.

"Pass the salt," he said, to no one in particular, but Felicia jumped at the chance and handed it to him.

"So James," she said, grinning widely at him.

He grunted in return, but she seemed to take it as encouragement to keep talking.

"I really had fun this weekend," she said. "And… I was wondering if you wanted to come over for the Christmas holidays?"

This was a pretty early invitation, as it was October, but I decided not to say anything, as I didn't want to argue with either one of them.

James didn't say anything at first but chewed, swallowed, looked at Felicia and said: "Nah."

Felicia looked confused and frowned, which made her beautiful face look tragic. "N – no?"

"No," James repeated, and he was already pouring more ketchup over his sausages.

"But – but why not?" Felicia asked, with a voice that sounded like it was approaching the panic phase.

James shrugged. "Don' li' oo' in 'at 'ay," he said through a mouth full of food.

"Nice, James," I said, "Maybe the trolls understood you."

He scowled at me, and I remembered that he was angry with me. "I don't like you in that way," he said to Felicia.

"But – but – you said – you said that I was pretty…"

"You are," James said. "Just not ideal for me. Besides, I'm going skiing this Christmas."

James was already eating again, oblivious to the heart that was shattering into a million pieces next to him. Felicia's eyes were quickly filling with tears, and her cheeks were reddening.

"Oh," she said simply, and then she was on her feet and running out of the Great Hall, and I decided that I should be a good friend, so I followed her.

I followed her into the girls' toilet. She was wiping her eyes with a piece of toilet paper in the front of the mirror.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I just – I just don't understand," Felicia said, in a voice that was clearly repressing sobs. "I thought he really liked me…"

"James is a real idiot sometimes," I told her, feeling as though I was stating the obvious.

Felicia nodded and turned to look at me. "I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you."

I shrugged. "It's okay."

"And I'm also sorry that I didn't come back to help you last night. I didn't know that you had fallen over," Felicia continued.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Scorpius helped me out. And then we talked afterwards."

Felicia's eyes widened, all her worries forgotten. "You did?"

"Yeah. And he said something, but I didn't quite catch what it was. Do you know any words starting with L – O?"

"Love?"

"That was my first thought too, but other than that?"

Felicia thinks for a moment. "Lox?"

"Like the fish?"

She nods.

"No… no, that really doesn't make much sense," I said.

"Loyal?"

I shook my head and sighed. "I guess it will remain a mystery forever."

Felicia looks in the mirror again, and it is a true testament to her troubles that she doesn't bother to wipe away the mascara running down her cheeks. Suddenly, however, she smiles. "Rose;" she says simply.

"What?" I ask.

She turns back around to face me. "Rose, I just had the best idea ever."

"What?" I repeat.

"Love," she said. "A love potion!"

"For who?"

"James!" she shrieked. "Oh, Merlin, I can't believe that I didn't think of it earlier! Of course!"

"A love potion for James?" I said. Even when I said it aloud it just sounded like a mistake waiting to happen. "I don't know…"

But then I looked at Felicia's happy smile and remembered that I was trying to keep the peace, so I smiled back and said, "That should be fun."

Later I was sitting in the Library with Albus. He hated the Library, but he put up with it that day for my sake. I think that he felt that I deserved some tender care after almost being eaten by a werewolf the night before.

"Al," I said. "Words starting with L –O?"

"Lozenge," Albus said immediately.

"What is _that_?"

"A diamond shaped figure," Albus said.

I sighed. "No. Try again."

Albus thought. "Lumbago."

"LO, not LU, pea brain," I muttered irritably. "And what is lumbago, anyway?"

"Pain in… you know," Al said. "The loins."

"No, not the loins!" I said, maybe a bit too loudly. I definitely attracted a few stares, among them Ophi, who smiled at me. I wanted to smile back, but I wasn't in the mood for smiling, so I gave him a Death Glare instead to make him stop being so nice.

And then suddenly, Scorpius was standing in front of me. "Hey," he said. He was grinning. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," I said, feeling awkward, and stood up. We walked over to a little more private corner of the library.

"So," he said.

"So," I said. Did he love me? Did he really?

"I just wanted to say that I had a good time last night, when I was talking to you and all," Scorpius said. "I miss being able to talk to you without having to worry that one of your cousins is lurking around the corner, about to spring on me and beat me up."

Oh, Merlin, he hadn't said _lust_, had he? He hadn't said, "I don't hate you, I _lust _for you?" No, that would have been too weird.

"Right," I said.

"Anyway," Scorpius continued. "I don't care about your cousins. Rose, will you go out with me?"

I stared at him. And then I gaped at him. Then I closed my mouth, because I had forgotten to brush my teeth that morning, and I didn't want to breathe on him with bad breath.

"Rose," Scorpius repeated, raising one eyebrow.

"Look," I said. "I want to. I really do. It's just… it's just that I don't want to fight with my family. And I don't want to be kicked off the Quidditch team and… I just – just am a little confused. That's all."

"So you don't want to?" Scorpius asked, frowning. He was cute when his white bangs fell in his eyes like that.

"I want to… but I can't. Not right now, anyway. I mean, you have to understand, my parents hate your parents, my whole family has been raised to hate the Malfoys – I just don't know how they would take it."

"Right," said Scorpius. "It's not like my father would do a jig about it, either. I just thought that all of that didn't matter so much."

I sighed. Then a brilliant idea popped into my head. "We could go out in secret!"

Scorpius shook his head. "I don't want to be with you if you're not proud of it," he said, and then he brushed past me and went back to his friends, leaving me alone.

I could feel my throat beginning to burn and my eyes stinging. I took a deep breath. I couldn't cry here. I couldn't cry now. The Slytherins would hear me. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

"Rose?"

I turned around. Ophi was standing there. He was looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"I'm fine," I told him.

"Good," said Ophi, grinning. "You seemed angry at me earlier, and I was just wondering if there was something wrong…"

"No," I said flatly.

"Fantastic!" Ophi exclaimed, clearly revealing his inability to understand girls. "Because I had a great time on our date and I was wondering – wondering if we maybe should do it again sometime?"

He was looking at me hopefully. I felt like either laughing or crying, but I couldn't decide which, so I ended up making some weird, in between noise that sounded like a squawk. Ophi looked alarmed.

"No thanks," I said, and I walked past him, thinking mostly of going up to my bed and having a good cry into my pillow, when I stopped and said – "By the way, do you know of any words that start with L – O?"

"A – lottery?" Ophi suggested, looking puzzled.

"No, that's not it. Thanks, though," I said, and then I turned around and went upstairs to cry.

My cry, however, was interrupted by Jane and Eurydice, who came upstairs, talking happily about boys and romance.

They stopped when they heard my sniffling. Eurydice, who is clearly the braver of the two, walked over and pulled aside my curtains, and frowned down at my red face.

"Rose!" she cried. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," I muttered, trying to hide my face, but suddenly Jane was there as well, clutching a romance novel and gaping down at me.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"Is it because you're in a fight with Felicia?" Eurydice asked.

"No, we made up."

"Is it because you're in a fight with James?" Jane asked.

"No, he's just a git."

"Is it because of a boy?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "But I don't want to talk about it."

"It's okay," Jane said quickly. "We won't tell a soul."

I remembered Eurydice saying that she would rip out the throat of the girl whose fault it was that she couldn't be Scorpius' girlfriend.

"No, it's okay," I said. "I'll get over it."

"Is it Ophi?" Eurydice asked, clearly deaf.

I sighed. "Yeah, sure, whatever, it's Ophi."

Jane shook her head. "Slytherins," she muttered.

"Look," I tried again. "I would really rather not talk about it."

"It's okay," Jane said, smiling at me.

"Do either of you two know any words starting with L-O?"

They looked surprised, but then Eurydice said, "Loony bin."

"No," I said.

"Low?"

"Loss."

"Lotion."

"Lovemaking," Eurydice said, giggling.

"Lovesick," Jane said, giggling just as much.

"It doesn't have anything to do with love," I told them.

"Loincloth," Eurydice suggested.

"And it _definitely_ doesn't have anything to do with loins!" I shouted.

They jumped.

"Never mind," I said. "I'm sorry. I think I'll just try and sleep a little before dinner."

"Right," Eurydice said, sounding like she thought that _I_ should be in the loony bin.

"Feel better," said Jane, and they left, leaving me to my depressing thoughts.

Thank you for reading, and please review! I'm sorry for the short chapter, but there will be another update very soon.


	12. In Which Rose Declares War

I slept right through dinner and woke up the next morning by Felicia shaking me.

"Wake up, Rose," she said. "This is a big day. Get up."

"Is it the Quidditch match?" I asked wildly.

"No," Felicia said. "But today is the day that James Potter will fall in love with me. Come on, get up."

At breakfast I nibbled at a few sausages. Felicia frowned at me. "You don't eat meat."

"I do now," I told her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm fine. I just – I don't know, I need the protein."

"You'd better be okay," said James darkly from a few seats down the table. I wondered if his hearing was super sensitive or something, seeing as he could hear us. "We're playing Slytherin on Saturday, and we need to win."

"Are you talking to me again?" I asked brightly.

James frowned, as though remembering something. "No," he said and turned back to his food.

Felicia explained her plan for the love potion to me. Apparently, several of the ingredients were kept in the store room in the Potions classroom.

"I don't know," I said. "I've already had detention twice, and I am a Prefect."

Felicia sighed. "Look, it's going to be okay! Nothing is going to happen."

Her plan was riddled with mistakes, but I decided not to say anything in the spirit of friendship.

In Potions class, I felt like some sort of repulsive alien. Demetria, whom I thought I had gotten on friendly terms with, glared at me. I looked at her, trying to assume a sort of puzzled expression, sort of trying to say "what – did – I – do?", but then she only glared at me even more, and I decided that I actually did deserve it, after all.

Scorpius completely ignored me, sitting behind me and not talking to me, not even looking at me. I wondered why I was feeling so hurt by this. I had turned him down, after all. It wasn't like I had the right to expect us to be friends now.

Though, I had maybe not expected Scorpius not to talk to me at all. But what was the other option? Not having a whole family talk to me? Besides, I had _offered_ to go out with Scorpius in secret. I didn't feel that that was an entirely unreasonable thing to say. I actually felt that I had taken the high horse there, trying to bargain. But that, apparently, hadn't been good enough. Al went to go sit next to me, but Felicia shoved him away and slid into the seat next to me, beaming.

"I'm so excited!" she whispered. "It's going to be great!"

I wanted to tell her that her plan was ridiculous, and that I actually felt sorry for Al, that he was just being shoved away, but I decided not to say anything, again, in the spirit of friendship.

Throughout the entire Potions class I was unfocused. My mind kept wandering to how many horrible ways I could get punished for stealing form the potions store room. I also started counting off the number of ways that Felicia's plan could go wrong. Then I deliberated what would happen if I told Felicia that I didn't want to be a part of her stupid plan, but I decided that remaining a Prefect wasn't worth losing a friend.

I felt that I had been making a lot of big choices lately, none of which I felt entirely sure about.

Once the Potions class finally finished, I turned around, trying to catch Scorpius' eye, but he stood up and left so quickly that he forgot his book. For a few moments I contemplated grabbing the book and running after him, but Felicia was tugging my arm, and I pretended to be packing my things, very slowly.

Finally, Slughorn was the only one left in the room with us.

"Shouldn't you be running along, girls?" he asked us.

I didn't say anything. Felicia kicked me under the table. "Actually, Professor," I said, hating every word that came out of my mouth. "I have been having some trouble. I want to check a book out of the Restricted Section for some extra studying, but Madam Pince won't give it to anyone but a teacher…"

"Oh, now, which book is that?" asked Slughorn, beaming at me.

"_The Wicked Effects of Magical Potions on Muggles_," I told him.

"Oh, yes, quite an interesting book – of course, it is not for the lighthearted – but, yes, Miss Weasley, I quite understand that a brilliant student like you would want that – I would be delighted to borrow it for you."

"Great," I said.

"In fact," continued Slughorn. "I shall do so right now, you know, my memory – not what it once was! You'll close the door, won't you girls?"

"Thank you, Professor," I said, feeling guilty.

Professor Slughorn bustled off and Felicia jumped to her feet, half ran over to the store room and muttered, "_Alohamora."_

The door opened, and we crept inside.

"Alright, let's look at the list," said Felicia.

"Hurry up!" I told her, as she took it carefully out of her pocket and took her time meticulously reading every ingredient, and then looking around for it.

"I need to do it properly," she snapped at me. "You don't want me to poison your cousin, do you?"

"No, but Slughorn might be back at any moment, I don't want any more detentions!"

"Relax," said Felicia.

Finally, _finally_, she was done, and we stepped out of the store room, our arms loaded with ingredients.

"Let's get out of here, quick," I said, and watched as Felicia shut the door, locked it again, and then I turned around to go back to my desk – and then my eyes met Scorpius'.

For a few moments we just stood and stared at each other. Me, the thief, the heartbreaker, the cold and heartless female, and him, looking all sweet and innocent and confused, standing there with his book in his hand. He quickly shoved it into his bag and left in a hurry.

I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding.

"He had better not tell anyone," Felicia mumbled.

"I don't think he will," I said. "I think we can trust him."

"I hope so!" Felicia exclaimed.

We put the ingredients into our pockets and our bags and set off for our next class.

"What am I going to do with that book, anyway?" I asked Felicia, as we walked along a corridor. "It's not like I actually want to read it, I think it's quite gruesome. I'll have nightmares."

Felicia rolled her eyes. "So don't read it. Just skim the pictures."

"Actually, I think that the pictures are the worst part of it," I said, just as a voice behind us called out, "Weasley! Cropper!"

We stopped and turned around, and my heart sank. Professor McGonagall was walking towards us, quite briskly, considering her age. She stopped in front of us, glaring at us.

"Empty your pockets," she said. Felicia and I looked nervously at each other.

"May I ask why?" Felicia asked.

"Miss Cropper, you will _do as you are told_. Empty. Your. Pockets."

I had never really thought of Professor McGonagall as a frightening person before, as she had always seemed to like me, seeing as I'm clever and rule – abiding (or used to be rule – abiding) and all, but right at that moment, she was doing _my_ Death Glare much better than I ever have.

Felicia reluctantly started pulling the ingredients out of her pockets, so I followed suit, feeling as though I was being lead to the gallows all along. We handed them over to Professor McGonagall.

"And your bags!" she ordered, and we emptied those as well. By the time we had handed the last of it over, I was red – faced with shame.

"I am most disappointed in you, girls!" Professor McGonagall told us, frowning heavily. "When Mr. Malfoy came to tell me that you had been stealing form the Potions store room, I could not believe my ears! Such clever young ladies like yourselves! I am especially disappointed in you, Miss Weasley. Do not make me regret my decision to appoint you as a Prefect."

I hung my head. I also seemed to have lost my voice.

"Forty points from Gryffindor, _each,_" she said, and then she turned on her heel and left us.

Felicia turned to me, her eyes wide. "Scorpius Malfoy told her!"

I could feel the hot rage building up inside of me. What did he do that for? I thought he liked – possibly, maybe – even loved me. What did he go reporting my crimes to McGonagall for? I wanted to confront him about it, but most of all, I wanted revenge.

"This is war," I told Felicia.

The rest of the day, I was in a rage towards anyone stupid enough to speak to me. I felt hot, angry and bothered, and it barely took anything before I snapped at people for almost nothing. I didn't see Scorpius that day at all (which was probably mostly lucky for him) but I did see Ophi once, however, we had barely made eye contact when he skirted over to the other side of the corridor to avoid me. Great. So no one wanted anything to do with me.

Finally the day came to an end, and after dinner I slumped in the Common Room to do some homework, deciding against talking to anyone. I was just opening a Herbology book, when James said loudly, "Oh, look, the team's traitor is back."

I sighed, and shut the book with a snap. "So am I allowed to come to practice tomorrow?" I asked James. "We are, after all, playing Slytherin on Saturday."

"Oh, nervous about not playing well in front of your boyfriend?" James said, a nasty smile on his face.

"James," said Avril tentatively. "I really think that Rose should come and practice, the team doesn't function without her…"

"Have you broken up with Malfoy, yet?" James asked me, ignoring her.

"He's not my boyfriend," I said quietly, trying to block him out.

"Sorry, Rosie, didn't quite get that?" James said, stilling smiling in that awful way, showing off his teeth, where, by the way, a little food was stuck.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" I bellowed. The whole Common Room fell oddly calm, just watching the two of us.

"You were certainly acting like that the other day!

"Well, he's not!" I cried, not really caring that all the Gryffindors were listening, only caring about wiping that stupid smile of his face. "He is not my boyfriend, he is twat, but you know who the biggest twat is?" I don't wait for an answer. "YOU, JAMES! You're the biggest twat in the world. You're the one who has a problem with the Slytherins, everyone else thinks that they are perfectly nice people. You're the one with the serious issues, if you think that it's okay to shut out a family member, just because they might be going out with someone that _you_ don't like!"

And having said that, I hurled my (very heavy) Herbology book right into James' face, where it slammed against his nose with a crack. I jumped to my feet and ran out of the Common Room, before anyone could tell that I was crying.

Thanks for reading, and remember to please review! And by the way – Merry Christmas!


	13. In Which Al Is A Man

As it turned out, I had broken James' nose. Needless to say, James wasn't too happy about this. Neither was Madam Pomfrey, for I had not only broken his nose, my Herbology book had, in fact, completely shattered every single bone in his nose, and James was therefore forced to spend a very painful night in the Hospital Wing, regrowing his nose.

I knew that the right thing to do would be to apologize to James for ruining this very central part of his face, but I wasn't feeling particularly charitable towards him at that moment. Most of the Gryffindor House, however, wasn't feeling very charitable towards _me_, as I had impaired the Quidditch team Captain's nose, and we were playing Slytherin in only a few days. Therefore I kept my head down in classes all day and barely spoke at all, except to answer questions. Once classes were over I decided against sitting in the Common Room and chose instead to go into refuge in the Library.

Al, however, managed to find me there. He sat down next to me, taking me quite by surprise.

"Rose," he said.

I looked up from my homework and took in Al with surprise. "Al!" I said. "How did you know that I was here?"

"Wild guess," Al said.

"You walked here – without me! All by yourself!"

"Yes, well, after four and half years at this school, I have learned my way around, yes."

"So – so you don't even need me anymore?"

For some reason, the fact that Al had managed to walk from the Common Room to the Library with my help to guide him, made me almost cry.

"Of course I do, Rose, you're my best friend."

This made me want to cry as well.

"Oh, Al…"

Al shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Don't get sentimental," he said. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About?" I asked.

"About you."

"Like a therapist?"

"I don't know what that is."

"It's a Muggle person who talks to people about their feelings – never mind, what about me?"

Al paused, apparently contemplating what to say next. Finally, he said, "You haven't been very happy lately."

I didn't know if it was a question or a statement, so I nodded, but then remembered that Al couldn't see. "Yes."

"And it is because of Scorpius Malfoy."

"No – well, yes, it is because of him, but he hasn't really done anything in particular to make me unhappy – actually, I feel that he makes me happy, in a way, I kind of guess that it's everyone else's reaction that makes me unhappy – or maybe just my reaction to everyone's reactions…"

As I trailed off I realized that, for once, I was right. It wasn't Scorpius' fault. In fact, he had only tried to make me happy, what with kissing me, and saving my life, and asking me to go out with him –I was the one making myself unhappy. James, of course, had contributed to that, but maybe if I hadn't let him get to me that much, I would have been happy. Maybe, if I hadn't let Felicia boss around with me, just because I felt bad about our fight (which she started, by the way) I would have been happy. And maybe, if I hadn't ignored my real best friend, Al, through all of this, and confided in him – maybe then I would have been happy.

"You're being awfully quiet," Al said.

"Al," I said, "I'm having an epiphany."

"An epiphany."

"Yes."

And being my best friend and all, Al didn't question this. He didn't even ask what the epiphany was about. Maybe he knew. He merely nodded and said, "Yes, that happens."

So Al and I sat there for another half hour, and I told Al all about Scorpius, and how I liked – loved? – him, but how I was still angry about him telling McGonagall about my crime. And Al told me how he hated James for being mean to me, and for being mean to Felicia, and how he adored Felicia, but sometimes wanted to slap her for being so ignorant about him.

Talking to Al made me feel much better. So good, in fact, that I went to the Hospital Wing to talk to James.

"James," I said. "I would like to apologize for breaking your nose."

"You mean, of course, that you are sorry for assaulting me and thereby mutilating my entire face," James corrected, lying in the bed and looking pathetic with a huge bandage on his nose.

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes. Luckily, he didn't see.

James was quiet. I could tell that he was having some sort of internal struggle, because he kept opening his mouth and then closing it again. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry for being a dolt to you."

I didn't know what to say, so I kept quiet. This seemed to pressure James into continuing to talk.

"If you want to be with Malfoy, fine. I won't promise not to beat him up, though. I'm not going to kick you off the team. You're the best Chaser we have. Besides me, of course."

I realized that this was the best that James could do. "Thank you, James," I said, smiling at him. "That means a lot to me. Don't worry, though, Scorpius has been a prick lately."

"Good," said James, looking relieved. "If my nose heals, there's Quidditch practice tonight. And again tomorrow. And then there's the game the day after tomorrow… Promise me to beat them, Rosie, please."

"Promise," I told him.

Quidditch practice ensued for two days in a row. James was pushing us harder than ever, and wanted us to practice for up to five hours. He didn't seem to have any regard for our school, our health or our humanity. I didn't mind that much, though. Gryffindor House seemed to have forgiven me, seeing as James was talking to me again, and training Quidditch gave me an excuse not to talk to Felicia about her love potion, and it meant that I didn't see Scorpius, whom I was still angry at. After Quidditch practice Friday night, the last night before the big game, James gave us a huge speech about how beating Slytherin the next day would give his life meaning and fulfill his goal for the year, et cetera, et cetera.

I returned to the Common Room feeling pretty confident in myself and in the team as a whole. I sat down between Felicia and Al, and watched Felicia try to flirt with James by continually offering him chocolates. I didn't know where she had gotten the box of chocolates from, and I tried not to feel offended that she wasn't offering any to me. I attempted to get started on some of my homework, but I was still planning to go to bed early (something that James had ordered the entire team to do, but that I always did the night before a Quidditch match).

Suddenly, James jumped to his feet and leaped onto the armchair that he had been sitting in moments before. I had been expecting him to order the team up to bed, but instead he shouted, "I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT I AM IN LOVE WITH FELICIA CROPPER!"

The Common Room fell quiet. A few people laughed. Someone fox whistled. James jumped down again and went over to the couch where the three of us were sitting. He attempted to squeeze himself in between Felicia and I. There really wasn't room for more than three on the couch, however, so Al and I were horribly squished, but James didn't seem to mind.

"Felicia," James said, and I noticed that his eyes were strangely unfocused. "Felicia, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Oh," giggled Felicia. "Oh, yes."

"Would you like to come home with me over Christmas break?" James continued, in a voice most unlike his own.

I was starting to get a little suspicious, so I reached behind James and poked Felicia in the side. She ignored me.

"I thought that you were going skiing?" she asked James, her eyes wide and adoring.

"Who cares?" said James. "I would rather spend time with you."

I poked Felicia harder. "OW!" she exclaimed, frowning at me.

"Don't hurt my beloved!" bellowed James at me. I decided not to pay him any attention.

"What in Merlin's name have you given him?" I hissed.

Felicia shrugged innocently. "Maybe he's just discovered his true feelings for me."

James nodded heavily in agreement.

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly," I said. "No one acts that way naturally."

Felicia sighed. "Fine. My older sister sent me a Weasley Wizard Wheezes love potion. Happy?"

She turned back to James, who has now slobbering all over her neck.

"No, I am not happy!" I snapped at her. "That's just a cruel thing to do."

"Honestly, Rose," Felicia said, glaring at me. "James just needed a pinch of potion to find his heart."

I decided to give up the fight. The effects of the potion would probably wear off eventually. "Just make sure that he is alright by tomorrow," I told her. "We have to win that game."

I told Al that I was going to bed, but he didn't seem to be listening, he was sitting with his fists clenched and his eyes shut tightly. I walked over to the stairs to the girls' dormitories, hearing James say, "Felicia, I must kiss you!" and a very loud smacking noise as he did. I wanted to vomit. Then, as I was walking up the stairs, I heard the sound of someone being punched and then falling to the floor. The entire Common Room fell quiet for the second time that evening. I turned and looked down at what was happening.

James was lying on the floor, looking dazed, blood pouring from his nose, which appeared to have been broken again. Felicia looked pale and shocked, and Al stood over James, rubbing his fist with a triumphant look on his face.

I was the first to break the silence. "_AL!_" I cried, in a very high pitched voice.

Al ignored me, turning to Felicia instead, the eyes of everyone in the Common Room on him. "Felicia," Al said loudly. "_I _am in love with you. And I don't need a love potion to feel it. I've loved you since the first day of First Year."

"You punched him!" Felicia said faintly. "He's bleeding!"

"Yes, he is," Al said proudly.

"Oh, Al," said Felicia. "I never knew you were so strong!"

"I was only doing what a man needs to do," Al said, and at that moment, just about every girl in the Common Room, except those of us who are related to him, was irrevocably in love with him.

I turned and walked back down the stairs, to where Al was basking in his glory and helped James to his feet. "Felicia…" he muttered.

"Come on, James," I said. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing. We need to get your nose right. And your head, for that matter."

I lead James out of the Common Room. Hardly anyone noticed, everyone was engulfed in Al's success. As we walked out of the portrait hole, I head Jane whispering, "He's blind, and yet so brave!"

"I never knew that he had so many _feelings_," Eurydice agreed with her.

I lead James to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey wasn't happy to see him, but I told her that it was crucial that he be well enough to play the next day. Madam Pomfrey promised that he would be fine.

"But his nose might be crooked," she said. "Breaking a nose twice within twenty – four hours…. It isn't exactly good for the bone structure."

James was perfectly ready for the game the next morning, but clearly quite upset that his nose would be slightly crooked, possibly for the rest of his life. At breakfast he glared daggers at Al, who smiled at him apologetically, but not really looking sorry. Felicia had clearly been won over by Al's declaration of love and the proof of his strength and manhood. She was sitting next to him, asking him if his fist still hurt. This seemed to only make James even angrier, and his eyes started to pop out. This probably was fair enough, as he seemed to be more gruesomely injured than Al. However, he didn't say anything. I think he perhaps felt embarrassed about being punched by his younger brother. Al had not only won Felicia, but he had also gained the affection of Jane and Eurydice, who both glared at Felicia as much as James glared at Al.

"Forget Scorpius Malfoy," I heard Eurydice say to Jane. "Albus Potter is handicapped, emotional and _brave_."

I wanted to tell Eurydice that being brave was one of the criteria of even being in Gryffindor, and that, by the way, Scorpius Malfoy might not have been handicapped, but he certainly was emotional and brave, too, at least, I thought so. And Scorpius was definitely much better looking than Al, but as I'm his cousin, I might have been biased. I then thought that Eurydice having forgotten about Scorpius might mean that she wouldn't rip my throat out if I went out with him, but then I remembered that I was angry with Scorpius for turning me in to McGonagall. Honestly, did he really have to go to the Headmistress?

With all of these events, I hardly even had time or energy to feel nervous about the impending Quidditch match against Slytherin. I did, however, get quite nervous as we stood in the locker rooms. James seemed to have turned his aggression about his nose into aggression towards the Slytherins.

"Beat them," he growled at us. "Crush them! Make them wish that they weren't on the team," he continued, his voice rising to hysterics. "Make them wish that they had never been _born!_"

With these words ringing in our ears, we entered the Quidditch field. The supporters of Gryffindor were cheering, drowning out all other sound, except for the booing from the Slytherins. The Slytherin team was already on the field, leaning up against their brooms and smirking at us. I caught Scorpius' eye. We stared coldly at each other for a few moments, then I looked away. The whistle blew, we kicked off from the ground, and the game began.

I could tell right from the start that James had been right – Scorpius was clearly assigned to tail me. Whenever the Quaffle was about to be passed to me, he was there, blocking me, so that I had to make insanely risky dives to get away from him. Whenever I actually managed to catch the Quaffle, despite him zigzagging in front of me, he was there again, blocking me from throwing it, meaning that a couple of times I actually had to drop it, so that a team player below me could catch it. I really wanted to hit him and get him out of the way. At one point, the Quaffle was dangerously close to the Gryffindor goal posts and I was by the Slytherin goal posts, Scorpius blocked me, so that I couldn't get to the other end to help defend our goal posts. This helped Slytherin score.

"Bugger off!" I yelled angrily at Scorpius. He merely shrugged at me. "Can't you play well enough on your own? Are you really so incapable of handling a Quaffle that you have to tail me all the time?"

This seemed to provoke him, so he dived and caught the Quaffle just as it was soaring into James' arms. This irritated me so much that I decided to chase him as he soared through the air, the Quaffle tucked in his arms, towards the goal posts. I accelerated and raced off after him, while James, who was hindered by a Bludger, roared, "GET HIM, ROSIE!"

I soared after Scorpius, my eyes fixed on the Quaffle, and just as he raised his arm to throw the Quaffle through a goal post, I caught up with him and grabbed his arm, stopping him. Scorpius tried to save the Quaffle, but I tugged on it, and he tugged harder, making me lose my balance on the broom, and before I knew it, I was dangling, half on the broom, half off. I wasn't about to let Scorpius win, though, so I tugged on the Quaffle with all my might, making Scorpius lose his balance as well.

Our eyes met, as we dangled in midair. "Let _go_," Scorpius said, an icy tone to his voice.

"No, you slimy little… worm!" I shrieked back at him, my fury at him for telling McGonagall on me rising again.

Scorpius' lips tightened. "Go away, Weasel!"

"Go away, Hufflepuff!" I shouted, and even as I said it, I knew that it was too hurtful an insult, using a secret that he had told me against him.

It infuriated him, and he gave the Quaffle such a strong pull in his direction that I was lurched off my broom; I grabbed his arm tightly for support, succeeding only in pulling him off his broom, and then we were falling.

Scorpius seemed to realize what was happening before me, because he wrapped his arms tightly around me and shut his eyes. I dug my fingernails into his hands, hardly having time to register that we were going to crash, when we did, and everything went black.

Thank you for reading! As always, please review and thank you to the kind people who have reviewed so far! :)


	14. In Which Many Things Happen

I woke up (I don't know how many hours later) with an uncomfortable pounding sensation in my head, and surrounded by dark. At first I wasn't quite sure as to where I was, but as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I could tell that I was in the Hospital Wing. For a second I had to wonder why I was there, but then I remembered – a Quidditch match, Scorpius had the Quaffle, we called each other a number of mean things, and then we fell. The only good thing that I could deduct from all of this was that I at least had survived the fall.

I looked to my right and found an empty bed. I looked to my left, and there was Scorpius, sleeping on his side, facing towards me. His hair had fallen in his face, and he was asleep. He was breathing heavily, and his mouth was open. I couldn't tell if he was drooling, but it didn't really matter. Even if he was drooling, he was pretty handsome. Scorpius looked quite peaceful and quite relaxed, but then again, who doesn't when they are sleeping?

I closed my eyes and tried to be like Scorpius – in a deep, peaceful sleep – but for some reason, I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I was getting more awake by the moment and falling asleep was starting to seem impossible. Finally, I gave up and turned to look at Scorpius again.

He was in the exact same position as before, still breathing so heavily that I could hear it.

"Scorpius," I whispered.

There was no answer.

"Scorpius," I repeated, a little louder this time.

His first reaction was to scrunch up his nose, then he closed his mouth, swallowed, and turned over on his other side, so that his back was to me.

I guessed that that either meant that he was still asleep, or that he really didn't want to talk to me.

"Scorpius," I said again.

Nothing happened at first, so I almost decided to give up, before he turned around again, sighed heavily, and slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh," he said when he saw me, and closed them again and pulled the covers over his head.

"Well, that's nice," I said.

There was another long – suffering sigh from under the covers. "It's not _you_ I'm ugh – ing at," Scorpius mumbled. "It's my head."

"My head hurts, too," I told him. "If that's any comfort."

"It's not," he grumbled. "I want medicine."

"I think that Madam Pomfrey is sleeping," I said.

"And so should you," he retorted, emerging from underneath the covers and frowning at me. "What did you wake me for?"

I suddenly felt stupid. "I just – I just woke up and felt lonely."

"So you wanted to make me a part of your misery?" Scorpius asked, sounding bitter.

"No. Sorry. Forget it. Go back to sleep."

Scorpius groaned, then said, "I can't now, obviously, as I am now wide awake."

"Sorry," I said again.

"It doesn't matter."

We were both silent for a few moments, and I was beginning to wonder if he perhaps had fallen asleep again after all when he said, "I suppose one of us should apologize for what happened, but I don't know whose fault it was."

"Me neither," I said. "But I am sorry for calling you a Hufflepuff."

"Do you not like Hufflepuffs?" he asked.

"No, I like them well enough," I said.

"Then what is your problem?"

I felt uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," I said. "I just wanted to say something mean."

"It's all right," said Scorpius, surprising me a little. "I would have done the same."

We were quiet again, and I was starting to think that this was a strange conversation, and that this could turn into a potentially awkward situation, but I couldn't stop myself from saying, "What did you report me to McGonagall for?"

Scorpius didn't say anything at first. "I was hurt. And angry."

"Why?"

Though I couldn't see him properly, I got the sensation that Scorpius was rolling his eyes at me.

"_Because_, Rose, I had asked you to go out with me, and you said no. It was embarrassing. I thought we had a thing."

"A thing."

"You know," he said, starting to sound a little irritated, "I liked you, I thought you liked me, too, we had kissed – you are a good kisser – and we had the episode with the werewolf – a thing."

"I do like you."

"Then why did you say no?"

"I told you – James and Quidditch and all… but that's all changed now, I told James I didn't care what he thought – I broke his nose, because I threw my Herbology book at him…"

"You threw your Herbology book at him?" I could tell by his voice that Scorpius was repressing laughter.

"Yes," I said. "He deserved it."

"Funny," said Scorpius. "But then, if I asked you again, you would say yes?"

"Probably."

"Hmm. I'm not going to ask you again, though."

"Why not?" I asked. I felt a little hurt by this. Actually, I got that feeling like I was about to cry again. I had been a little over – emotional the past few days.

"Because then it would be begging, and Malfoys don't beg."

"Well," I said indignantly. "Neither do Weasleys," although I had never heard anyone in my family say so, and my father often begged my mother for permission to do different things. "Maybe we could be friends, though."

"Maybe," said Scorpius, not sounding convinced. "By the way, Rose, you have scarred my hand."

"Sorry. How?"

"Your bloody long fingernails that cut into me while we were falling."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, you said that."

I tried to make amends. "You flew well."

"I know I fly well," Scorpius said. "And I know that I'm a good Chaser. Remember when I beat you at our competition?"

"Yes." I had actually forgotten. Perhaps I had repressed it in my memory. "I've wondered," I said tentatively. "Did you choose the Hufflepuff Keeper because of her… you know, her chest?"

"No," said Scorpius. "What about it?"

"Well," I said, feeling stupid for having brought it up. "Her breasts are huge."

Scorpius laughed, actually laughed, quite loudly. "You thought I chose her because she has big breasts?"

I felt even more stupid now. "Yes," I muttered.

"No, of course not," said Scorpius, still laughing. "I've only ever had eyes for you."

I didn't know what to say to this. "Oh," I said. Clever, Rose, very charming and romantic.

Maybe this disappointed Scorpius, because he didn't say anything. I thought about how he apparently had been in love with me since forever. And then how he had kissed me during our detention, and kissed me again outside the Forest. I thought about how in the past few weeks I had gotten into much more trouble than ever before, and I had been much more unhappy than ever before, but I had also been much more _alive_ than ever before. I thought about the friends that I had gained, lost, and gained again, and how all along I had been thinking of him, blaming him, when really, I should be blaming myself. I thought about how obsessed I had been with him, and how many things I had experienced. And then I remembered how many times I must have hurt him, by turning him down, ignoring him, or whatever else.

I remembered him telling me that he was almost sorted into Hufflepuff, and then I remembered what the Sorting Hat had said to me – that it would have put me in Ravenclaw, had it not had the feeling that I would become braver one day, a bit more daring than the careful, rule – abiding girl that I was.

Then I thought about Al, who had loved Felicia since forever, who had suffered through her boyfriends, and who had finally stood up for himself, proven himself and risked everything in front of everyone. And then I decided to prove myself and risk everything, too.

I slipped out of my bed, quietly, and walked over to Scorpius' bed. I sat down on it. Scorpius was looking up at me, confused. He had a bruise over his left eye. We looked at each other, or perhaps we even really _saw_ each other. I examined his face – his eyes, wide and grey in the dark, though I knew them to be green in the light; his skin, not as pale as his fathers, but tan – and his white hair, looking ghostly. I examined his arms, skinny and bony through his pajamas. His wrists were scratched – from the fall, probably – and his right hand was in bandages; his left hand had marks from my nails. I think he was examining me, too.

I kissed him. I didn't give myself time to think about it, because then I would chicken out and regret my decision. Besides, if I hadn't done _something_, he would have thought that I was a complete freak for just sitting there and staring at him.

Scorpius kissed me back. For the first time, his tongue slid along my teeth gently, and I did the only thing that felt natural – I opened my mouth – and then we were actually _snogging_, for the first time in my life. Scorpius' bandaged hand was in my hair, and for the longest time – it could have been minutes or hours, I didn't really know or care – we just kissed.

Eventually we stopped, and Scorpius smiled, and I smiled, and then I lay down next to him.

"I'm going to beg," said Scorpius. "But it's the last time I'm asking."

"Yeah," I said. "I'll go out with you."

We smiled some more, before he snaked an arm around me and yawned into my ear. I shuddered and he snickered.

I muttered something about being ticklish, so he blew air into my ear and I shuddered some more. Eventually, he mumbled into my hair, "Goodnight, Rose."

"Goodnight, Scorpius," I said. And I barely had time to register the nice feeling of my back against his chest, and his arm around my waist before I fell asleep.

The next morning, he was gone. I hissed "Scorpius!" several times to no result, except that Madam Pomfrey came out from her office and declared that I was good to go, and gave me a bottle of some potion that I had to take every night for a week to reduce headaches.

I left the Hospital Wing and wandered around, looking for him. I didn't know what to think about him being gone. Had he regretted what happened during the night? Had he perhaps had a little too hard bump to the head and started saying things that he didn't really mean?

I went back to my dormitory to change into something fresh. Eurydice was looking at me in awe.

"I thought that you were dead," she told me.

"Sorry to disappoint you," I said, my voice muffled by the shirt I was trying to pull over my head.

"I thought Scorpius would be dead, too," she continued, probably not having heard me.

"Again, I think he's fine," I said, unless, of course – the thought suddenly struck me – he had died during the night and he had been removed and Madam Pomfrey hadn't told me, because she felt sorry for me that I had slept next to a corpse.

I told myself that I was being ridiculous. But honestly, what _if_ something horrible had happened to him?

I decided to intensify my search. I tried the Library, the Great Hall, I looked out every window that I passed, in case he was flying outside, and I walked back and forth in front of the portrait leading into the kitchens, in case he was in there. Finally, I was reduced to loitering around the dungeons, because I knew that the Slytherin dormitories were somewhere around there, but I wasn't sure where.

I was about to give up when I turned around a corner and almost bumped into Demetria.

"Where's Scorpius?" I asked her immediately.

"Good morning to you too," Demetria said, sounding annoyed.

"Oh, right," I said. "Good morning. Have you seen him?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," Demetria said. "Decided that he was worth it after all?"

"Oh shut up," I said, surprising even myself. "I guess I just realized that I was being stupid."

This seemed to please Demetria, because she smiled at me and took my hand, which I thought was very unlike her.

"Come, Rose," she said, and she led me down the corridor, before stopping in front of a seemingly random spot. "_Maggot_," she told the wall, and it opened, revealing the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

Demetria pulled me inside. At first I was mostly a little shocked by actually being in there; then I started to look around at the slightly cold atmosphere in the Common Room. Almost everything was green. I thought that the Gryffindor Common Room was much cozier, but then again I was probably biased.

Several Slytherins looked at me with disgust or irritation, as though angry that I was in there. I didn't blame them. Others didn't really seem to care. Ophi smiled at me tentatively and I smiled back, feeling that I should do something to make him feel a little better.

And then Scorpius was there, and he was smiling at me.

"Hi," I said.

"Hey," he said.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

Scorpius shrugged. "I had to leave – Madam Pomfrey seemed to think that I was some sort of pervert for sneaking into your bed, though technically it was the other way around, but she didn't seem to believe me, even though she assigned the beds."

I smiled. "So… we're still on then?"

"Definitely."

The Slytherins were starting to stare at us curiously.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Scorpius asked. "It's early; we could spend the day together or something."

I beamed at him. "I would love to."

We left the Common Room and wandered around the school, talking about everything and nothing, really.

"I have to ask you something," I said eventually.

"What, Weasel?"

"Don't call me Weasel."

"It's cute, it suits you."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I wanted to ask you something serious, if you're capable of that."

Scorpius arranged his face into an extremely somber expression, looking as though someone had died. "Okay."

"After the werewolf thing, you said "I don't hate you, I –" something that I didn't catch. I've been wondering what you were going to say." I tried to say this very casually, as though I didn't really care.

Scorpius stopped looking ridiculous and looked serious, for real this time.

"I was going to say that I love you, of course."

This made me smile, widely. "Who won the Quidditch match?" I asked.

"Your team, unfortunately," Scorpius said.

"Good," I said. "Then James will be in a good mood when I tell him how I'm hopelessly in love with you."

So I took his hand, and Scorpius, looking frightened, allowed himself to be lead up to the Gryffindor Common Room, where I would show him off.

Thank you very much for reading! Please remember to REVIEW, as reviewing can only make me a better writer. :) The next chapter is the last – thanks for sticking with me and Rose :)


	15. In Which There Is A Party

So in the end, everything turned out quite well. Because the Gryffindor team didn't feel that they could have a party to celebrate the win while their favorite Chaser (me, of course) was in the Hospital Wing, they decided to have the party the next night. And although it was a Sunday, and I officially was against it, because we had classes the next day and needed our sleep, I decided to join in anyway. I even invited a few people – Scorpius, Ophi and Demetria.

At first James was against having Slytherins at a Gryffindor party, but then I told him that there was no time like the present to gloat about winning, and he agreed. Naturally, James wanted to kill Scorpius when I told him that we were going out, but I guess that he remembered his promise to me, because he abstained from causing any bodily harm, although the glaring and sour remarks never stopped.

Al seemed to have won the hearts of every Gryffindor girl, but he didn't seem to care, because he had also won Felicia. Felicia had given up on James when she learned that the only reason he ever took her on a date was because he thought that she was attractive, which according to Felicia made him chauvinistic and sexist, but I already knew that.

Demetria acted friendly, which at first was weird, but was actually quite nice, especially because she is super honest, and told me that I had a huge zit on my forehead that was blaringly red. Although this should have upset me, it actually just made me even fonder of Scorpius, seeing as he had agreed to go out with me and all, even though I had a horn growing out of my forehead.

Ophi wasn't upset that I had turned him down. He seemed pretty mellow about it, in fact, and assured me – yelling over the loud music at the Gryffindor party – that we would always be friends.

The party was actually a lot of fun. There was good music, dancing, and someone had even snuck _illegally _out of Hogwarts and brought candy back from Honeydukes. And even though I knew that the candy was probably _stolen_, as Honeydukes is closed on Sundays, and even though I, as a Prefect, should have yelled at whoever did it, I chose to ignore it.

I also got a chance to talk to Al, who was resting his feet after having danced with almost all the Gryffindor girls in our year – and even Demetria.

"Good party," I said.

"Yeah," said Al, grinning. "Hey – congrats on getting together with Malfoy. It was about time, you know."

"Well, same to you," I told him.

We sat for a few moments and watched the laughing people all around us.

"You gave us a scare – falling off your broom and all," Al said.

"I'm sorry," I said. "But nothing happened to me."

Al didn't reply at first. He leaned over and (after an awkward moment where he accidentally touched my breasts – not his fault, of course, he's blind) he patted me on the shoulder.

"You're my best friend, Rose, you know that?"

"I know," I told him. "You're my best friend, too."

I ruffled his hair, and then I jumped to my feet to go and dance with my boyfriend.

THE END.

I would like to thank all the wonderful people who have read and reviewed this story! It's taken me a long time to write it, and I hope that everyone is pleased with the results. Please review! It means a load to me. And also, I would like to hear your thoughts on a possible sequel? :) Again, thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with Rose till the end. :)


	16. In Which There Now Is A Sequel!

To the readers of Rose's Ramblings: The sequel, _All Roses Have Thorns_ is now up! Please read and remember to review!


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